Pete owes much of his success to his "persecution". He didn't "pay" a wit for anything. The "persecution" served to make a talented musician into a folk hero. Without that persecution he'd have been as much of a nobody as most of the other folk musicians of his era.

He was no poor boy made good -- though that is the persona that still sticks. He was Ivy League elite who learned the fine art of slumming with plain ol' "folk" -- and those "folk" ate it up. Still do.