Secretary of State’s Decision
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has mandated a return to Times New Roman, moving away from Calibri, which was previously adopted by the Biden administration for accessibility purposes.
In a memo titled “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper,” Mr. Rubio instructed his department to revert to the typeface that was standard from 2004 until 2023. Prior to 2004, Courier New was utilized.
Mr. Rubio emphasized that this change aims to restore decorum and professionalism in the department’s written communications while eliminating what he termed a wasteful DEIA program. He stated, “The Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface.”
The font switch initiated by former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2023 was part of broader diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives. Calibri was chosen due to its reported readability advantages for individuals with certain disabilities compared to Times New Roman.
Mr. Rubio remarked that while the font change under Mr. Blinken “was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEIA,” it did not reduce the number of “accessibility-based document remediation cases.” He concluded that switching to Calibri only led to a decline in the quality of official correspondence.
