Late President’s Birthday Renews ‘Mt. Reagan’ Debate

By: - February 4, 2011 12:00 am
The 100th birthday of former president Ronald Reagan this Sunday (February 6) is renewing a debate in New Hampshire about what a mountain in the north of the state should be called.

New Hampshire in 2003 passed a state law to change the name of “Mount Clay” — a 5,533-foot peak near the Maine border — to “Mount Reagan,” in honor of the 40th American president. But a federal board rejected the move, citing a “reluctance to change a long-standing historical name” and noting that the peak was already named after another U.S. statesman, former Kentucky senator Henry Clay, according to the The Union Leader of Manchester .

Because the mountain is on federal and not state land, it is still called Mount Clay on maps and other official documents.

Those who want the mountain to be called Mount Reagan, however, are using the upcoming birthday of the former president — who died in 2004 — to drum up support for the name change. The Union Leader notes that they are pushing for Congress to pass its own law to formally rename the mountain. 

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