Otis G. Pike

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Otis Grey Pike (born August 31, 1921) 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. He 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, and 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. He was a member of the Armed Services Committee and 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 9 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. He decided not to seek a 10th term in 1978 and retired from Congress in January, 1979.

Pike then embarked on a new career when he expanded on the weekly newspaper columns he had written weekly during his Congressional years for the papers in his home district, joining the Newhouse News Service. He continued writing his nationally syndicated column twice a week, focusing on events in Washington, for many years, finally retiring at the age of 80. He resides in Vero Beach, Florida.

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Preceded by Stuyvesant Wainwright	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 1st congressional district 1961–1979	Succeeded by William Carney