on sunday, president obama approved the name change of the highest peak in the united states.
as john schuppe reported on nbcnews.com, the mountain previously known as mount mckinley
will now be known as denali, or “the high one” in the language of alaska’s indigenous athabascan people
it has been a crazy couple of weeks for obscure (not easily recognized) u.s. presidents. franklin pierce had his name in the headlines last month, and now the 25th president of the united states, william mckinley, has made it into the news for having his name removed from a mountain.
william mckinley: known to presidential historians as “the high one”
nbc news interviewed kimberly kenney of the william mckinley presidential library. kenney
pointed out mckinley’s most lasting contribution to american history: a victory in the spanish-american war, which established the united states as a world power and set the tone for future military campaigns in foreign countries.
set the tone means establish a style.
gore vidal’s book empire discusses the role william mckinley played in building the american empire.
gore vidal‘s novel empire focuses on the years at the beginning of the 20th century when the u.s. was setting this tone globally. president mckinley is an important character in the book.
fun english practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
the headline of schuppe’s article reads
Mt. McKinley to Denali: How A Mountain’s Renaming Got Tied Up in Politics
tied up means slowed down, held up, restrained. politics is an activity, NOT a person. politician is a person who has a career in politics.
athabascan kids preparing for a community dance (adam dubrowa/fema)
the politics in this situation have president obama between the state of alaska, where the peak has always been known as denali; and ohio, mckinley’s home state. schuppe writes
alaskan tribes have been advocating for a return to denali for decades. but ohioans pushed back, saying it would be an insult to mckinley’s political legacy.
tribe refers to indigenous people. advocate means promote. push back indicates a strong response. political describes something related to politics or politicians.
ohio governor john kasich used the renaming of mount mckinley as an opportunity to criticize president obama. (mark wilson/getty images)
one of the ohio politicians who has pushed back is current governor and republican candidate for president john kasich. yesterday governor kasich tweeted that president obama
overstepped his bounds
bounds is short for boundaries, like in the phrase out of bounds.
As POTUS once again oversteps his bounds, Ohio knows every carnation is a monument to our own William McKinley. -John pic.twitter.com/GvQfqnIKOh
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) August 31, 2015
kasich’s idea is that obama did something he doesn’t have the power to do, more than he should have.
“i don’t give a fuck,” said a local bear. (diliff, wikimedia commons)
does it matter to u what name the tallest mountain in north america has? do u prefer denali or mckinley? can u suggest a better name? share your ideas under leave a reply
