What was going on when I was born?

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27--A bipartisan group of 43 Senators called today for a reduction of about $26 billion in President Carter's 1981 budget as a way to combat inflation.

After nearly 25 years of legalized price-fixing, the closely knit maritime container-hauling community is on the verge of a ferocious rate war. Leading the discord is the industry giant, SeaLand Industries.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27--Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance insisted today that the United Nations fact-finding commission was sent to Iran with an agreed mandate to obtain "the speedy release" of the American hostages held there.

From Seventh Avenue to Fifth Avenue, the apparel trade is puzzling over skirt lengths. The reluctance of American women to accept dramatically shorter skirts on a season's notice and the demand for a range of hem lengths are causing some confusion among manufacturers and retailers.

In an unusual form of settlement of an antitrust action, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company has agreed to the possible purchase of as much as $2 billion in telecommunications products and services over the next 10 years from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27--The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the General Dynamics Corporation today of illegally purchasing 157,500 shares of its own stock in 1978 on the basis of information not generally available to the public.

IN February 1965, this newspaper carried an article announcing that the Old Merchant's House, a New York landmark at 29 East Fourth Street, had reached the end of the line.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27--Pakistan, despite recent American warnings, is still taking steps to acquire the capacity to build nuclear weapons, a development that State Department officials say could undercut Washington's efforts to provide it with military support.

I KNOW several people who have been arrested and they are rather proud of the experience, in the social revolution of the 60's, one of them said, to be arrested was to infiltrate the very bowels of Justice. To go to jail, if only for a night, was to look history in the eye.

TEHERAN, Iran, Feb. 27--A new delay in the release of the 50 American hostages was officially forecast here today as the secretary of the governing Revolutionary Council said the question could not even be taken up until May.

ITALIAN fashion, cars and accessories have traveled easily from abroad to settle here among the status conscious. But .modern furniture, in which the Italians have traditionally excelled, has had limited ...