We had more Saturn Vs. Nixon was not a fan of American exceptionalism.
Maybe true, but Nixon had a lot of issues to deal with.
The big problem is that no one had a real plan for NASA once we got there. While we could put men on the moon, we did not have the tech to leave them there for more than a few days, so basically, each flight was more or less moon tourism.
Also, for some reason, NASA decided against BDRs (big dumb rockets) for the space truck, I mean Space Shuttle. I guess the aeronautics side of NASA was not feeling the love, so NASA needed a glider to appease them.
Nixon understood that we were exceptional - the world presented more important issues than another ride on the expensive merry-go-round.