US Congress in WW2 Compared with other legislative bodies
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During WWII, did Congress show solidarity with the President?
Not really. While Congress did show solidarity as far as the war effort was concerned (and that took some effort), internal politics were very much against the President.
The 1942 midterm elections were the first to be held after the declaration of war. The Democrats barely won that election. The Republicans gained 47 seats in the House, 9 in the Senate. To make matters worse, those narrow victories included a number of southern Democrats who were Democrats in name only.
Congress cancelled several key New Deal projects as a result of this election. The list of cancelled New Deal projects includes the Civilian Conservation Corps (terminated in 1942), and the National Youth Administration and the Works Progress Administration (both terminated in 1943).
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To expand on (and slightly correct) David Hammen, the CCC and WPA were not closed because of partisan politics. They were closed because unemployment was low due to the industrialization of the war effort. They were programs designed to combat the high unemployment and were no longer needed.
As far as Congress was concerned, no. From 1938-41, Congress very much opposed the war. The American people thought it wasn't our fight and were too burned from WWI and have much care to go into Europe or Asia. Thus, the Congressmen wanted America to stay out. They wanted their constituencies to be happy. You had some Congressmen who had fought in WWI who thought we needed to go, but the majority wanted to stay out. This is why FDR had "cash and carry" deal and shared American pilots and military advisors with the British and French was so they could help out the effort without having to try and get involved.
Pearl Harbor changed America's opinions and rallied the people towards getting involved. So, for awhile in early 1942, Congress supported the effort. Then, mid-terms rolled up, and the Democrats did lose seats in the election. The Democrats were still hesitant towards a full out declaration of war, whereas the Republicans viewed it as a necessity to our own national defense. Thus, the people (who in '42 mostly supported the war) tended to side with the Republicans.
After '42, the Democrats learned from their losses in the midterms and realized that taking an anti-war stance would not help them retain control of their seat in the '44 or '46 elections.
Interesting Source: Check out the party platforms specifically from 1940 and then 1944. You can see the change in the Democratic platform from staunchly anti-war to moderate, middle of the road in 1944. UCSB-Party Platforms since 1840
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