The House of Representatives wanted to do the moon landing, then JFK noted the support in Congress and announced the program.
Nixon lived in a different world, the legal world. For him that was the real world. He couldn't have pointed out the moon if he saw it over the Washington Monument. All the same, the race to the moon was over, and other problems arose--Vietnam, loss of faith in the Federal government, the Golden Fleece Award, the Oil Embargo, national introversion.
Mainly, though, the moon was found to be missing something important -- water.
That's what fuel cells are for... ;-) All we have to come up with is H2 somewhere on the Moon, and there're plenty of oxides just lying around begging to be reduced.