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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES On the National Institute on Aging's (NIA's) timeline of major milestones, the 1961 White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) and the 1971 WHCOA are credited with recommending the creation of a separate National Institute on Aging. This article explores the relationship between NIA and the WHCOA, and how the two entities have worked together to increase research in the mechanisms of aging, diseases of older people, and long-term care.. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Historical analyses of past WHCOA Final Reports, supplemental documents, websites, and interviews with key participants, including Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the NIA, from 1993 until the present. RESULTS The results affirmed that NIA has been an active and collaborative partner of past WHCOAs, especially regarding the shared objective of increased funding for Alzheimer's disease. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS While not always a primary partner, NIA has played a key role in advising and assisting organizers of past WHCOAs, assuring that research remains an underlying theme and content generator of each conference. The Older Americans Act Reauthorization of 2024 (S. 4776) calls for a 2025 Conference to be planned and directed under the Secretary of HHS in cooperation with the Assistant Secretary for Aging and the Director of the NIA, among others.