Hours into his second term as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Denali, the tallest mountain in the US, to Mount McKinley in honour of former President William McKinley.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Republican president, who served for just under five years before he was assassinated.

Who was William McKinley and what happened to him?

William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States and served from 1897 until 1901, when he was assassinated.

Born in 1843, McKinley served in the Civil War on the side of the Confederate states before pursuing a career in politics.

He became a member of the US House of Representatives in 1885, representing Ohio, until he was elected as the 39th Governor of Ohio in 1892.

McKinley ran as the Republican Party candidate in the presidential election of 1896 and won. He was sworn in as on March 4, 1897.

What did William McKinley do as president?

During his first term in office, McKinley raised protective tariffs, promoted an ‘Open Door Policy’ to allow free trade with China, and gained control of four key territories for the US – Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

He was also in office when the US declared war on Spain in 1898, though it was Congress who made that decision, not McKinley himself.

McKinley took little action on the issue of civil rights, disappointing and losing the support of many Black voters.

He was reelected in 1900 and his second inauguration was held on March 4, 1901. Just a few months into his second term, he was assassinated.

Why was William McKinley assassinated?

American anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley twice on September 6, 1901, as the president greeted the public at the Pan-American Exposition in New York.

Finding himself unemployed during the economic Panic of 1893, Czolgosz leaned into anarchist philosophy and came to see McKinley as a symbol of oppression.

He had planned to assassinate McKinley the day prior as he delivered a speech to 50,000 onlookers but couldn’t get a clean shot, so waited until the following day.

He lined up with other members of the public to meet the president then concealed his gun with a handkerchief as McKinley approached. As the men shook hands, Czolgosz fired twice.

Though McKinley’s wounds didn’t appear deadly at first and he survived for several days after the shooting, the wounds turned gangrenous and he died on September 14. He was 58.

William McKinley’s family

McKinley was survived by his wife Ida, who had already lost their two daughters.

The eldest Katie, born in 1871, died of heart disease when she was just shy of four years old. The youngest Ida, who was named for her mother, was born in 1873 but was sickly and died at just four months old.

Losing her children greatly affected Ida, who developed epilepsy and severe depression after her daughters’ deaths.

Her health further deteriorated after her husband’s assassination and she died just five years later in 1907. She was 59.

Why is Trump renaming Denali for William McKinley?

On Mondau (US time), Trump declared “we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley where it should be and where it belongs”.

The mountain had been called Mount McKinley for over a century until 2015, when the name was changed to Denali by President Barack Obama in recognition of the landmark’s significance to Native American tribes.

Lawmakers in Alaska don’t support Trump’s change and a recent poll showed that three in five Alaskan oppose the renaming.

The history of the Denali–Mount McKinley naming dispute

The Koyukon Athabaskans that call the area around Denali home called the peak ‘Dinale’ or ‘Denali’ for centuries before a prospector named it for then-presidential candidate McKinley in 1896.

The US government recognised the name in 1917, when the national park where the peak located was named Mount McKinley National Park.

The state of Alaska petitioned to have the mountain’s name changed back to Denali as early as the 1970s, but it didn’t happen for more than 40 years.