Trumbull Higgins, 70, a military historian and an author, died on April 25.

Dr. Higgins, who once described himself as "a specialist in military fiasco," was a professor of history at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and wrote numerous books on military history, concentrating on strategy and policy decisions during World War II, the Korean War, and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

His latest book, The Perfect Failure, published in 1987, is a case study of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs operation. Among his earlier works was Winston Churchill and the Second Front, published in 1957. It was a study of the Allied decision to invade North Africa in 1942. A book on the Korean conflict, Korea and the Fall of MacArthur: A Précis in Limited War, was published in 1960.

Dr. Higgins was a long-time resident of Manhattan. He was graduated from Princeton in 1941 and earned his doctorate in history there in 1951. He lectured often at the National War College in Washington. He was a member of the American Historical Association since 1951.

Dr. Higgins is survived by his wife, Barbara Guest; a son, Jonathan, of Santa Cruz; a stepdaughter, Hadley Haden-Guest of Manhattan; and two sisters, Faith McCurdy and Anita Salembier of Long Island.