Here is the story history will tell of Joe Biden. With American democracy in an hour of maximum danger in Trump’s presidency, Mr. Biden stepped up. He staved off an authoritarian threat at home, rallied the world against autocrats abroad, laid the foundations for decades of prosperity, managed the end of the pandemic, successfully legislated on vital issues of climate and infrastructure and conducted a presidency worthy of the greatest of his predecessors. History and fate brought him to the pinnacle late in his life, and in the end, he respected fate — and he respected the American people.