Otis G. Pike
| Otis G. Pike | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 1st district |
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In office January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Stuyvesant Wainwright |
| Succeeded by | William Carney |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 31, 1921 Riverhead, New York |
| Died | January 20, 2014 (aged 92) Vero Beach, Florida |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Doris O. Pike Barbe Bonjour |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Vero Beach, Florida |
| Alma mater |
Princeton University Columbia Law School |
| Religion | Congregationalist |
Otis Grey Pike (August 31, 1921 – January 20, 2014) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.
Pike was born in Riverhead, New York. He served in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific as a Dive Bomber and Night Fighter pilot from 1942 until 1946. He graduated from Princeton University in 1946 and Columbia Law School in 1948.
Pike was first elected to public office in the Town of Riverhead as a Justice of the Peace then ran for Congress from the 1st Congressional District of New York in 1958, an election which he lost. Two years later, he was elected to Congress in 1960 and represented New York's 1st congressional district from January 3, 1961 until January 3, 1979. As a Democrat, it is interesting to note that the NY 1st Congressional District in that same election gave the Republican candidate for president, Richard Nixon, the highest percentage of votes of any Congressional District in the country.
Pike was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and in the mid-1970s headed the Congressional Special Select Committee on Intelligence, the House version of the Senate Committee on Intelligence headed by Senator Frank Church. The House of Representatives voted 246-124 to direct that the Pike report not be released if not certified by the President not to contain classified information. However, the report was published by The Village Voice. In his final years in Congress, Pike served on the Ways and Means Committee.
During his nine terms in Congress, he was a proponent of pro-environmental legislation including the creation of the Fire Island National Seashore on Long Island, which now includes the Otis G. Pike Wilderness Area. In early 1965, at a student meeting at Suffolk County Community College, he said that only revolution would result in a change of government in South Africa. At the same meeting, he also stated that "politicians keep their ear so close to the ground that an ant can jump in" referring to their ability to know what their constituents are thinking. He decided not to seek a 10th term in 1978 and retired from Congress in January, 1979.
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