dr_wu002
Well-known member
Walking around in the Presidentials always gets me thinking that there are a few names missing. First of all, the extraneous Adams summits (Adams 4 and Adams 5) should be renamed Abigail Adams and Charles Francis Adams (JQA's son), both of whom played a significant role (in the context of the Adams Family) in American History.
Clay/Reagan also bothers me... Clay because it is so out of context: Henry Clay was a 19th century politician and had no association really with any of the presidents in the Presidential Range except Pierce, maybe. Putting aside Reagan's* politics, he's such a recent president so people are going to feel strongly for or against having the peak called "Reagan" as they would it being called "Clinton." In 100 or 200 years people would probably forget how polarizing a president both of them were so it wouldn't matter. Despite the fact that Jackson isn't named after Andrew Jackson, if indeed it were (as many people probably believe) few would object despite the fact that besides Abe Lincoln, no 19th century president was so loved/hated/controversial as Jackson was.
I think a better name for Clay/Reagan would be "Hamilton" named after non-president but highly significant founding father, Alexander Hamilton (who was also an enormously polarizing figure but who cares today). Clay wasn't a president anyway (and never will be) and we already have a non-president Presidential (Franklin) and more importantly the shoulder peak of Washington provides good context because Hamilton was very close to Washington, particularly during the Revolutionary War when Washington was known as General Washington (whom the mountain is actually named after) and Hamilton was basically his right-hand-man.
I realize that this is idle speculation because the Federal Government doesn't like to change names of mountains often and despite the fact that he's on the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton's name is slowly being forgotten or relegated to that of "the guy who got killed in a duel with Aaron Burr". But I think it would be neat to kind of round off the main Presidentials in terms of the real founding fathers (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, and errr Monroe). and to clean up some of the less imaginative names like Adams 4 and Adams 5 with something a bit more historically relevant.
*Disclaimer: notice I didn't mention Reagan's politics, let's keep it that way. I simply think that any recent 2-term president (Johnson, Nixon (1.5 term), Reagan, Clinton) is going to have passionate supporters and detractors. Let's avoid politics in this thread.
-Dr. Wu
Clay/Reagan also bothers me... Clay because it is so out of context: Henry Clay was a 19th century politician and had no association really with any of the presidents in the Presidential Range except Pierce, maybe. Putting aside Reagan's* politics, he's such a recent president so people are going to feel strongly for or against having the peak called "Reagan" as they would it being called "Clinton." In 100 or 200 years people would probably forget how polarizing a president both of them were so it wouldn't matter. Despite the fact that Jackson isn't named after Andrew Jackson, if indeed it were (as many people probably believe) few would object despite the fact that besides Abe Lincoln, no 19th century president was so loved/hated/controversial as Jackson was.
I think a better name for Clay/Reagan would be "Hamilton" named after non-president but highly significant founding father, Alexander Hamilton (who was also an enormously polarizing figure but who cares today). Clay wasn't a president anyway (and never will be) and we already have a non-president Presidential (Franklin) and more importantly the shoulder peak of Washington provides good context because Hamilton was very close to Washington, particularly during the Revolutionary War when Washington was known as General Washington (whom the mountain is actually named after) and Hamilton was basically his right-hand-man.
I realize that this is idle speculation because the Federal Government doesn't like to change names of mountains often and despite the fact that he's on the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton's name is slowly being forgotten or relegated to that of "the guy who got killed in a duel with Aaron Burr". But I think it would be neat to kind of round off the main Presidentials in terms of the real founding fathers (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, and errr Monroe). and to clean up some of the less imaginative names like Adams 4 and Adams 5 with something a bit more historically relevant.
*Disclaimer: notice I didn't mention Reagan's politics, let's keep it that way. I simply think that any recent 2-term president (Johnson, Nixon (1.5 term), Reagan, Clinton) is going to have passionate supporters and detractors. Let's avoid politics in this thread.
-Dr. Wu
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