[1][6] He was led in the 129th Field Artillery Regiment by future President of the United States Harry S. Truman, in which he attended his reception planned by Forrest Smith at the Shoreham Hotel in 1949 and his inauguration, following him being re-elected.

He co-directed several Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts with Cal Dalton during Friz Freleng's two-year exodus to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Producer Leon Schlesinger needed a replacement for Freleng, and Hardaway's previous experience in the job resulted in his promotion.

[5] During his second year at Lantz, he wrote the story for Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat; in February 1949, Universal withdrew it from reissue due to multiple complaints from the NAACP for its racist stereotypes of African-Americans.

[14] Hardaway died from cancer at the age of 61 on February 5, 1957, supposedly as a result of a long-term effect of exposure to chemical weapons during World War I.