Hardwicke was a lecturer in law at
Mount Vernon School of Law from 1955 to 1960. He was an instructor in law at
Johns Hopkins University starting in 1955. Hardwicke was a
Republican. Hess served in the
Maryland House of Delegates, representing Harford County, from 1963 to 1966. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Maryland in 1967. In 1973, Hardwicke ran for Congress, but lost to
Robert Bauman. He was a member of the Harford County Council and served as president from 1978 to 1990. He was chief administrative law judge of the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings from 1991 to 2002, after appointment by Governor
William Donald Schaefer. He was the first administrative law judge of Maryland. He was the co-author of
Business Law with Robert Emerson. ==Personal life==