Cover art
Vidal, Gore. The Smithsonian Institution. Random House 1998.

Vidal, Gore. The Smithsonian Institution
Divergence: 1910 CE
What if: Woodrow Wilson didn't go into politics, and Champ Clark was elected president in 1912, only to quickly die in office and be succeeded by William Jennings Bryan.
Summary: Fantasia about a mathematical prodigy trying to avert World War II, and his own foreseen death, by changing history. In the history he creates, the United States stays out of World War I and the European war turns into a stalemate settled by the diplomats. But despite the non-rise of facism, the U.S. is still confronted by Japan in 1940.
Published: Random House 1998 (0375501215BUY); Harvest 1999 (0156006480BUY).
Original in: English.
Translation: French by Florence Levy-Paolini as La ménagerie des hommes illustres, Payout 1999 (2228892238).