What was going on when I was born?

WASHNGTON ALREADY trailing the nation as a whole in economic growth and per capita income gains, New Jersey and most of the 18 states of the Northeast and Middle West will continue to lag begin national averages in the next two decades, according to an analysis by the Northeast-Midwest Institute. In one of its gloomiest reports yet - it is entitled ''State of the Region 1981'' - the institute concludes that although ''economic decline accelerates in the Northeast and Midwest, Federal policy remains tilted toward the development interests of the South and West.'' Although New Jersey fits the overall pattern for the 18-state region stretching from Maine and Maryland in the East to Minnesota and Iowa, the state's growth figures in general are far better than those for New York and Pennsylvania. The institute, a nonprofit research center, was set up in 1976 to compile statistical analyses for the 213 Congressmen of both parties representing the 18 states. It uses Federal figures and projections on a wide variety of subjects.

Budget director David A. Stockman to Congressional liaison Max Friedersdorf during a White House photo opportunity: ''It's really going to be tough to sell. I'll help you all I can.'' The reference was to the budget and tax cuts that President Reagan will propose to Congress Wednesday. Not only will arm-twisting be in order, more elbow grease than even Mr. Stockman plans to apply may be needed. Add last week's ingredients -President Reagan's assurance that social programs for the ''truly needy'' would be preserved - to his oft-stated intention to increase military spending, and the room to cut the budget narrows even further. And that means that the fighting over what to preserve will be at closer quarters still.

YONKERS THE Hudson River Museum has for some years been one of Westchester's two major cultural attractions, with the Neuberger at Purchase being the other. Most of the credit for this goes to Richard Koshalek who, during his four years as the museum's director, not only made it solvent, but altered its exhibition policy radically. While he did not ignore traditional art, Mr. Koshalek emphasized vanguard works - Minimal sculpture, in particular. Inside and out, the museum has featured major installations by notables such as Ronald Bladen, Dan Flavin, John Mason and Robert Whitman, to name only a few.

The limousine glided to a stop at 120 East End Avenue and a blond, tanned woman got out, followed by a tall gentleman wearing dark glasses. They took the elevator to a top floor, where the doors opened upon a spacious foyer. ''This is the old Vincent Astor apartment, one of the grand spaces left in the city,'' said the man as they passed through to the airy library with its sweeping view of the East River. He began the tour, showing the living room, the dining room, opening doors to cedarlined closets, and huge, old-fashioned silver vaults, displaying the six bedrooms and baths, the two elevators, the servants' hall and five maids' rooms, the pantry, the laundry room, the dressing rooms and wine closets. ''Now, how much did you say this was?'' asked the woman. ''It is $2.35 million, with $3,800 maintenance and 42 percent tax deduction,'' he said. ''Of course, you'll have to completely redo the place, but with 12,000 square feet to work with, you can have a ball.''

A senior Soviet representative denied today that Moscow was supplying arms to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador but conceded that the Kremlin was sending arms to Cuba and Ethiopia without putting any restrictions on transshipments to other countries. Vladilen M. Vasev, Minister Counselor of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, also suggested that the Reagan Administration was publicly talking tough toward the Russians in part to build up an ''ultrapatriotic'' mood that would accept large increases in military spending at a time of economic troubles and prospective cuts in domestic programs. Shift in Soviet Diplomacy Mr. Vasev's appearance in several radio and television interviews lately marks a significant departure for Soviet propaganda and diplomacy in Washington. It evidently reflects a Soviet decision to meet charges from the Reagan Administration quickly with public appearances in this country rather than relying purely on press commentaries and official statements in Moscow.

The very name - Sukhothai - had promised enchantment throughout more than a decade of frequent visits and occasional residence in Thailand. But in all those years the idea of a round trip by road of 460 miles from Bangkok had deterred me. And I had never met anyone who had actually visited the fabled city, the first capital of Siam, which lasted only a bit more than a century and yet fixed many of the directions of Thailand's culture, art and statecraft. The Thais do most of their sightseeing away from Asia, and Sukhothai is not yet on the well-trodden tourist path. Sukhothai was founded in 1257 after the Siamese had driven the ruling Cambodians out of this western outpost of their great empire, and the prince who led the campaign became Siam's first king, under the name of Sri Indraditya. One of his sons, Ramkhaeng, ascended the throne in 1278 and ruled for 40 years. A great warrior, Ramkhaeng is now called Thailand's first great king. He opened Thailand's relations with China, visiting there twice, and brought back artisans who founded the first school of Siamese ceramics. One of Ramkhaeng's most lasting achievements was the creation of the first alphabet, derived from Cambodian script, which permitted the Thai language to be rendered in writing.

MEDFORD ''ABSTAIN.'' That was the response of the newest member of the state's Pinelands Commission on every issue that came up for a vote on Feb. 6, the date of his first meeting as a commissioner. He is former State Senator Raymond H. Bateman, and his failure to vote or express his views regarding the controversies facing the commission stems from his role as representive of James G. Watt, the new Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Bateman does not know the Secretary's views; he does not even know whether Mr. Watt wants him in the job. What is more, Mr. Bateman has never even met the Secretary or spoken with him about the pinelands or anything else, although he hopes to do so before the commission's next meeting in March.

Nobody ever accused Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of being soft on crime. But last week he surprised even many lawyers when he took off the gloves in a speech to the American Bar Association in Houston, calling for urgent measures to combat a ''reign of terror in American cities'' and urging an overhaul of a failed criminal justice system.

Basque nationalists called today for a general strike in their region to protest the death of a suspected Basque terrorist while he was being held by the Madrid police. The death of Jose Ignacio Arregui Izaguirre, a 30-year-old truck driver who was captured in a gun battle Feb. 4 and who had been held incommunicado for 10 days under a new antiterrorist law, seemed certain to galvanize partisans of the Basque terrorist organization E.T.A. just when it had openly split and been thrown on the defensive by popular sentiment against it in the troubled north. Mr. Arregui, whom the police accused of several assassinations, died yesterday afternoon in a Madrid prison hospital. According to official reports, his eyes were badly bruised, one lung was full of liquid, his body was covered with hematomas, or swollen areas full of blood, and the soles of his feet had been burned. Such injuries would tend to confirm a recent report by Amnesty International that said torture was still practiced by the police in Spain.

''People believe in socialism. The only problem is that some people at the top cannot believe that the people really believe in socialism.'' Adam Wendorf, Communist Party secretary at the Elmor factory in Gdansk. WARSAW - Just six months ago, Polish workers took the measure of their misery and decided to act. The revolt they started in the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk has gathered momentum, broadened and matured. Developing outlines of an ideology, it has turned into a movement and, some would insist, into a revolutionary force. The question is whether the changes unleashed can be contained within political structures originally imposed by Stalin and still essentially a mirror image of the Soviet system. Will the Kremlin, which has based its security on maintaining such systems as a protective zone against the West, allow the ''Polish experiment'' to continue?

THE last time John Tate was seen in a boxing ring, his head lay flat on the apron and one leg twitched ominously. Death was in the air that night in Montreal: Cleveland Denny had been pounded toward his final coma by Gaetan Hart, and John Tate a former champion - lay quivering in the ring. ''I was scared,'' says Ace Miller, the Little Napoleon of the Dogwood City who manages John Tate's life. ''I wasn't scared when Mike Weaver knocked John out in March, but when somebody like Trevor Berbick hits John twice in the back of the head - that scared me a lot.'' John Tate had been the World Boxing Association champion until Weaver knocked him out with 45 seconds remaining in the 15th and final round last March 31. When Berbick slugged him twice in June, Tate joined that vast circle of boxers about whom people cluck their tongues and say, ''a nice guy, but he ought to get out.''

Mike Saunders, the trainer, tended to Michael Ray Richardson, who was sprawled over the training table. Marvin Webster discussed a wager he had made with Willis Reed that he was a better shooter than the former Knick captain. Bill Cartwright talked about good cigars with General Manager Eddie Donovan. Campy Russell watched a replay of a Detroit Piston-Seattle SuperSonic game, and Sly Williams read some fan mail. With the Knicks winning again, the dressing room Friday night had the relaxed atmosphere that prevailed early in the season when they posted an 11-3 mark. Absent were the tensions that surfaced last month, when they struggled through a 6-9 period, and fears of missing the playoffs mounted.