Some members of Ohio's congressional delegation want President Trump to rename Mount Denali in Denali National Park and Preserve to Mount McKinley/NPS, Tim Rains

Some Ohio politicians, indignant that President Obama would rename Mount McKinley in Denali National Park and Preserve to Mount Denali, want President Trump to change it back. Never mind that President William McKinley never set foot in Alaska and that Alaskans were all for the name change.

No, says a letter sent to President Trump and signed by 11 congressmen from Ohio, "President McKinley's legacy should not be comprised by a political stunt."

Former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell back in August 2015 directed that Mount McKinley be officially renamed "Denali," the traditional Koyukon Athabascan name of the peak. Secretary Jewell gained the support of President Obama to issue a Secretarial Order that officially changes the name. The authority to make such changes in certain cases per the 1947 federal law that provides for the standardization of geographic names through the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Back in 2012, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska introduced legislation to make the name change. In 2015, after the name change was made, the senator produced a video thanking President Obama for acting on Secretary Jewell's recommendation.

Since 1987 and until August 2015 the official name of the mountain in federal publications had been Mount McKinley. The mountain retained the federally authorized name Mount McKinley, even as the name of the national park was changed in 1980 from Mount McKinley National Park into the new (and larger) area named Denali National Park and Preserve under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

The mountain's McKinley name dates to 1896, when a prospector emerged from exploring the mountains of central Alaska and received news that William McKinley had been nominated as a candidate for president of the United States. In a show of support, the prospector declared the tallest peak of the Alaska Range as Mount McKinley – and the name stuck.

For centuries, the mountain that rises more than 20,000 feet above sea level, the tallest on the North American continent, had been known by another name – Denali. McKinley, our 25th president, was tragically assassinated just six months into his second term, but he never set foot in Alaska.

On March 11, 1975, Governor Jay S. Hammond of Alaska requested that the Secretary of the Interior direct the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to officially redesignate Mount McKinley as Denali. This proposal, never withdrawn, was based on a resolution that was passed by the Alaska State Legislature.

Poppycock, say the Ohio Republicans. 

"In 1917, Congress acted to recognize the President's (McKinley's) selfless dedication to the United States by naming the Mount McKinley National Park in honor of his legacy," they wrote earlier this week. "Mount McKinley held its name for over one-hundred years and was a testament to President McKinley's service to our country.

"Under the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANCILA) signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Mount McKinley was incorporated into a much larger protected area named the Denali National Park. During this time, a compromise was made between the state of Alaska and the federal government to retain the mountain as McKinley and name the National Park Denali," the went on. "However, the Obama Administration acted against the will of Congress and unilaterally ordered the name of Mount McKinley be changed to Mount Denali on August 28, 2015. This action is disrepectful to Ohioans and President McKinley's memory. President William McKinley's legacy should not be compromised by a political stunt."