use of lobbying groups in the United States; Contributions toward the 1976 electoral defeats of Senators John Tunney and Dick Clark, who opposed American involvement in the Angolan War; The establishment of publication firms for propaganda distributed locally and internationally, including in foreign universities; The establishment of front organisations for research, for transferring money abroad, and for hosting foreign guests in South Africa; Pamphlet bombs in townships after the 1976 Soweto uprising; and An attempt to establish black film theatres. The Citizen The Project had initially planned to arrange the sale of the Rand Daily Mail, the most staunchly anti-apartheid national newspaper of the era, to Louis Luyt, a conservative business tycoon who would steer the paper in a more sympathetic editorial direction. When shareholders refused to sell to Luyt, the Project decided to establish an entirely new pro-government, but ostensibly independent, English-language newspaper. The Citizen was founded in 1976, at substantial expense, under Luyt, and recruited several popular conservative journalists. It lost significant amounts of money, and an overdraft facility had to be arranged. The Citizen is estimated to have cost the state R32 million or $37 million by the time Luyt pulled out in 1977. On some views, the eventual scandal "discredited" the Citizen, which is still operational, for some years afterward. The Washington Star In 1974, the Project also attempted to facilitate the sale of the American Washington Star, with similar plans to sway its editorial policy toward a favourable view of the South African government. The intention was probably to use the newspaper to influence American foreign policy on South Africa and to attack liberal Democrats. Luyt's counterpart in this unsuccessful bid was right-wing media magnate John P. McGoff, who was provided $11.3 million in Project funds with which to purchase the Star. McGoff went on to use part of the funds to purchase an interest in the Sacramento Union, and was ultimately investigated and charged by the American Department of Justice for acting as the agent of a foreign nation. Public scandal In mid-1977, the department was audited by the state Auditor-General, led by the former Secretary of Information, Gerald Barrie. Barrie reported to Vorster about financial irregularities and the mismanagement of state funds at the department. Over the next two years, revelations about the department's activities and secret propaganda campaign emerged through a series of official inquiries and in the press. The Rand Daily