What was going on when I was born?

Urguayans apprehensive as re- buffed military ponders future A2 Soviet head of Warsaw Pact makes surprise visit to Warsaw A3 Around the World A4 Israel arrests six in murder of Bedouin Parliament member A5 Government/Politics New Federal project requires hearing protectors A12 U.S. commissions suggests Social Security funding changes A12 Casey, at confirmation hearing, opposes C.I.A. reorganization A16 General Around the Nation A12 Study links high-absorbency tam- pons to toxic shock syndrome A13 Housing secretary-designee testi- fies on retrenchment A16 Witness indicates Dr. Tarnower had held gun used to kill him B2 DR. KING OBSERVANCE Tomorrow is the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Following are holiday schedules: Sanitation - Regular collections in New York City. Federal offices - Open. State offices - Open in New York, closed in Connecticut and New Jersey. Municipal offices - Open in New York, many closed in Connecticut and New Jersey. Post offices - Open; regular schedule. Banks - Open in New York, closed in Connecticut and New Jersey. Stock and commodities exchanges -Open. Transportation - Regular schedules. Libraries - Open. Schools - In Connecticut and New Jersey, most closed tomorrow. In New York, open tomorrow, closed Monday.

The gross revenues of Atlantic City's casinos decreased sharply last month, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported yesterday. Industry spokesmen said the figures would translate into the first net losses for any month since casino gambling began in the state in 1978. ''We don't have net figures for December yet,'' said H. Steven Norton, executive vice president of Resorts International, whose casino was the first in New Jersey. ''But they will show a loss for every casino hotel in the city. It will be the first losing month for Resorts and the first for the industry as a whole.''

Because of an editing error, an article in Metropolitan Report yesterday incorrectly described Governor Byrne's message to the New Jersey Legislature. Mr. Byrne will deliver his final State of the State message next January, shortly before he leaves office. Because of an editing error, an article yesterday incorrectly identified the State Department position to be held by Robert C. McFarlane. He has been selected by Secretary of State-designate Alexander M. Haig Jr. for the post of Counselor.

''I cannot bring myself to render a judgment on Richard Nixon, or for that matter, Henry Kissinger.

One of President Carter's legacies to President-elect Ronald Reagan is a 1981 Government budget that is running $47 billion above the spending figure that Mr. Carter proposed a year ago and may climb higher. The budget is also running $55 billion in deficit, compared with an initial estimate a year ago of $16 billion of red ink. The $55 billion figure contrasts with the surplus of $16.5 billion projected by Mr. Carter in his hurried March budget revisions. The story of the downs and ups of the budget for the 1981 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 1980, is a cautionary tale about the unpredictability of events and the myriad forces - natural, economic and political - that interpose themselves between a President and his budget objectives.

The Koch administration plans to hire 1,000 more police officers in the next fiscal year and to free 500 officers in clerical jobs for possible street duty by replacing them with lower-paid civilians, New York City officials said yesterday. Preliminary plans also call for reducing the number of publicschool teachers by about 600, but city budget officials said that because of declining enrollments the cutback would have no effect on average class size. Certain special programs are expected to add teaching slots, but the total number will drop slightly. According to the Board of Education, there are now 54,000 teachers, compared with 73,000 five years ago.

Sales by United States retailers fell in December after climbing slowly but steadily since May, the Commerce Department announced today. The department reported a 1.3 percent dip from November figures, even though the dollar value of the December sales total was swelled by continuing inflation. Sales of about $942.5 billion for all of last year were up about 6 percent from 1979, the Commerce Department reported, but that gain was also distorted by inflation.

Ralph Lauren, Mollie Parnis, Bill Blass - Angelo Leone has pleated for them all. In the parlance of the apparel trade, Mr. Leone is a pleater. Every day he unrolls bolts of fabric sent by garment manufacturers to his loft on West 40th Street. Then he folds them - into box pleats, butterfly pleats, side pleats and sunburst pleats. He does not always pleat, of course; sometimes he tucks. While public awareness of the fashion industry typically does not go beyond the glossy labels and designer names that make it to the rack each season, specialists like Mr. Leone are an integral, and vital, part of the business. Along with the weavers, the shrinkers, the swatchers and other specialists, the pleaters are on the little-known, and decidedly unglamorous, periphery of the district. They employ several thousand - no more precise statistics are available - of the estimated 170,000 workers in apparel manufacturing in New York.

Treasury Secretary G. William Miller said today that the survival plan submitted by the Chrysler Corporation must be improved to provide a greater financial cushion for the company before the Government could approve $400 million in additional loan guarantees. With the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider the car maker's request for aid, Mr. Miller asked the United Automobile Workers, the banks and the company's suppliers for further concessions so that an improved plan could be put before the board. The Treasury Secretary described the current plan, submitted by Chrysler Dec. 23, as ''inadequate.'' He said: ''It needs to be improved. It needs to be tuned up. Certain gaps need to be filled.'' He made his remarks at a news conference at the Treasury Building after he met with company officials and union leaders.

Out in Eugene, Ore., Ardie Arnis, who describes herself as ''a 46-year-old woman with dark, graying hair,'' still has her mind on a man she met in New York last October. It was Oct. 26, to be exact - the chill and windy Sunday of the New York City Marathon - and Mrs. Arnis, running her fourth marathon, was one of the 12,622 ''winners'' out of 14,011 starters who completed the 26.2-mile run through the five boroughs. The fastest time was that of Alberto Salazar, who also came from Eugene, but Mrs. Arnis keeps thinking of a New Yorker - the volunteer race marshal who helped her reach the finish line of what Mrs. Arnis calls a ''well-organized and joyful'' event. ''The excitement of running in New York and the wonderful enthusiasm of the New York spectators caused me to break a cardinal rule of marathoning: I went out too fast,'' Mrs. Arnis wrote to Fred Lebow, the marathon chairman, in one of several hundred thank-you letters that are still being received by race officials and sponsors. By the last two miles, she recalled, ''I became disoriented and exhausted.''

Just as stock options and financial futures developed into the hot investments of the 1970's, the nation's financial exchanges hope to make a new product, commodity options, the trading star of the 1980's. Some exchanges have applied to Federal regulators for permission to trade these options. Others are either developing proposals or studying the possibility. Gold and silver, coffee and sugar, Treasury securities and other financial instruments - the exchanges are interested in all of them.

International American officials expressed concern that their hopes of freeing the 52 hostages by the time the Carter Administration leaves office next Tuesday might be dashed by the latest indications of political disarray in Iran. Several officials said they suspected that a militant group was seeking to block an accord with Washington, and a senior official said that time was ''running out.'' (Page A1, Columns 3-4.) A procedural delay in Teheran caused the postponement of parliamentary action on legislation required by Iran for the release of the American hostages, but officials said a vote would be taken today. The postponement resulted from the failure of enough members of a key panel to attend a meeting to approve the legislation. (A10:1.)