Why did 400,000 People want to send folks to the Moon?

Why did we do it? Because the Moon was there. Mankind had conquered most of Earth (except for our oceans). It didn't matter to us that President Kennedy had called for this enormous achievement. It didn't matter to us that we needed to beat the Russian Communists in anything. Security looked for Communists behind every bush but I don't think they found any.
We ignored all of that. "We were going where no man had gone before" to quote Star Trek. Starting in 1966, we rushed home from work on Friday nights to watch William Shatner, Leonard Nemoy and the rest of the cast man the helm of "Enterprise". I wonder if those folks have any idea of how much they influenced the workers and engineers of the Saturn V? Star Trek made me proud of the work I was doing. It is a fond and unforgettable part of my life.