Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the State Department to revert to using Times New Roman instead of Calibri as the typeface for government communications on Tuesday.
The move, outlined in an internal department cable obtained by Reuters, marked the end of the Biden administration’s use of the modern sans-serif font to accommodate people with visual or learning disabilities.
“To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface,” the cable reads.
“This formatting standard aligns with the President’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department’s responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications,” it added.
Rubio’s predecessor, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, mandated the change to 14-point Calibri in January 2023 as recommended by the Secretary’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the time. Studies show Calibri is easier to read for people with low vision or dyslexia because it has a cleaner look than Times New Roman.
The State Department began using Times New Roman as its standard typeface for memos received by the secretary in 2004.
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The Biden administration’s affinity for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs has since been overturned by the second Trump administration.
After his inauguration, President Donald Trump quickly signed executive orders to ban the use of race- and gender-based criteria within the federal government. He has said DEI programs are illegal because they discriminate against people who display more merit than those who belong to a certain identity.
