Vladimir Lenin avoids a meeting with the “Grim Reaper” on this episode of This Day In History.

On this episode of This Day In History, Tony and Armand recall the attempted assassination of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin.

In 1918, Fanni Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary party, shoots and seriously injures Lenin after giving a speech at a factory in Moscow. This event, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky, led to the calls for Red Terror and saw thousands executed during Russia’s civil war.

Plus, Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1967, Azerbaijan declares its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and hall of fame slugger Ted Williams is born on this day in 1918.

Take a trip back in time on this episode of This Day In History!