Memo from Marco Rubio reportedly said cutting Calibri from official communication would ‘abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program
US diplomats have been ordered to return to using the Times New Roman typeface in official communications, with secretary of state Marco Rubio calling the Biden administration’s decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.
The department under Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken switched to Calibri in 2023, claiming the modern sans-serif typeface was more accessible for people with disabilities because it did not have the decorative angular features and was the default in Microsoft products.
The debate had actually been going on for a while between Fraktur and Antiqua. In the past Fraktur was used to write German, while Antiqua was used for Latin. The debate is known as the “Antiqua-Fraktur-Streit” and was going on in Germany since the 18th century. In the late 19th century it became very heated when several movements tried to make their preferred font the standard in the wake of standardizations for spelling. During the Weimar republic both were taught in schools, Antiqua for Latin and Fraktur for German.
Now you’d think someone like Hitler would love a classical German font, but Hitler found the usage of Fraktur “backward-looking” and the artsy, ornate style of Fraktur not fitting for the new age of technology and strong Aryans. They even prohibited the usage of Fraktur in some publications.
It’s actually pretty hilarious that Fraktur is associated with Nazis now when Hitler was pretty outspoken about hating it and tried very hard to abolish it.