Marco Rubio restores State Department documents to Times New Roman
Marco Rubio rescinded Antony Blinken’s Calibri policy and reinstated the Times New Roman for official State Department documents.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday called his predecessor Antony Blinken’s decision to hire Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move and ordered diplomats to return to using the Times New Roman font in official communications, according to an Interior Department cable seen by Reuters.
Blinken’s department switched to Calibri, a modern sans-serif font, in early January 2023, saying the font lacks decorative angular features and is the default for Microsoft products, making it more accessible to people with disabilities.
A December 9 cable sent to all U.S. diplomatic offices stated that typography forms the professionalism of official documents and that Calibri is less formal than serif typefaces.
“To restore civility and professionalism to the department’s written work and eliminate yet another wasteful DEIA program, the department will return to Times New Roman as its standard typeface,” the cable said.
“This formatting standard is consistent with the President’s One Voice for America foreign relations directive and emphasizes the Department’s responsibility to present a unified and professional voice in all communications,” the department added.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Some research suggests that sans-serif fonts, such as Calibri, are easier to read for people with certain visual impairments.
After taking office in January, Trump, a Republican, moved quickly to gut federal DEI programs and prevent them from being implemented in the private sector or in education, including ordering the firing of diversity officials at federal agencies and increasing subsidies for a wide range of programs.
DEI policies became more widespread after 2020, when nationwide protests over police killings of unarmed Black people erupted, sparking a backlash from conservatives. Critics of Trump and other diversity initiatives say they discriminate against white people and men and undermine merit-based decision-making.
