What was going on when I was born?

The Koch administration yesterday announced a plan to fight illegal parking in midtown Manhattan that would prohibit double parking even if the driver or a passenger remained in the car. Although any form of double parking is technically illegal, the city's police officers and brown-uniformed traffic-enforcement agents have traditionally allowed motorists to ignore the regulations as long as someone - even a child - was in the car. Under the new policy, which takes effect on Monday, these drivers, too, will be subject to summonses if they double-park or park in ''no standing'' zones and bus lanes from Third to Seventh Avenues and from 42d to 59th Streets. In a few days, the city expects to start an administrative process that by May would raise the fine for such offenses to $40 from $35.

Acting with a swiftness seldom seen on Capitol Hill, the Republican-dominated Senate Budget Committee today recommended $23 billion in budget cuts. Those decisions, coupled with the panel's actions a day earlier, accounted for a total of more than $35 billion in proposed reductions in two days. Completion of action on the budget package, which senators contend makes the most sweeping changes in financing and programs since the New Deal, is scheduled for tomorrow. The measure, which includes the major share of President Reagan's proposed reductions from the budget for the fiscal year 1982 submitted by the Carter Administration, is scheduled to reach the Senate floor next week, where it is expected to receive equally swift treatment in the Republican-controlled chamber. Last year the committee took a week to recommend cuts of $4 billion and the Senate took six months to approve the measure.

An article in The Times last Sunday on money-raising efforts in connection with the killing and disappearance of black children in Atlanta misstated the purpose of one fund. Money sent to the Committee to Stop Children's Murders, 334 Auburn Avenue S.E., Atlanta, Ga. 30303, will be given to the families of the victims for food, rent and other aid, but not for investigation of the crimes.

Propelled by a rise in automobile buying, the American economy appears to be headed for a surprisingly strong growth rate of 5 percent in this year's first quarter, the Council of Economic Advisers reported today. ''For the quarter as a whole, the gross national product appears to be coming in strong,'' a council spokesman said. The Administration continues to believe that a slowdown is developing, as indicated by the February dip in industrial production, the spokesman said. He confirmed that the council's chairman, Murray L. Weidenbaum, still believes that the spring and summer months will be ''sluggish.'' This adjective is understood to mean that unemployment is expected to rise as economic growth flattens or perhaps turns into a mild contraction or recession.

International Another attack on Soviet policy was made by Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. At a House hearing, he accused Moscow of responsibility for ''international terrorism'' and of having a ''hit list'' for Communist domination of Central America. (Page A1, Column 4.) A satellite-killing weapon test by the Soviet Union was successful, according to Pentagon sources. It was the first such test since 1977 in the Soviet antisatellite development program, which is considered to be ahead of the United States program. (A1:5.)

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, the nation's largest insurance company, has reached a tentative agreement to buy the Bache Group Inc., the parent company of Bache Halsey Stuart Shields, one of the biggest brokerage houses in the country, Wall Street sources disclosed last night. The surprise deal, estimated to involve $375 million in cash, was unanimously approved by Bache's board of directors after a three-hour late-afternoon meeting, these sources said. Management Invited to Stay As part of the acquisition, Bache's present management was invited to remain, the sources added, but they did not report other details of the transaction. An official announcement of the transaction, now believed to be ready for the preparation of formal contracts, is expected to be made today.

President Reagan's plan to sharply increase military spending has heartened the defense industry, which is now looking forward to more lucrative arms contracts. But there is a dispute emerging about whether the higher Federal outlays will significantly add to inflationary pressures in the United States. Some critics of the Administration's military spending plans contend that the inflationary effects on the economy could rival those brought on by the Vietnam buildup. Administration economists ridicule any comparison with the Vietnam experience, saying that the Vietnam expenditures were made in a much shorter time period than the relatively gradual five-year buildup proposed by the Administration. They add that their plan to cut other expenses should negate these inflationary pressures.

Attorney General William French Smith has warned that any voluntary agreement by Japan to curb auto exports to the United States could be jeopardized by private antitrust suits in this country unless the agreement were approved under Japanese law. Mr. Smith said that if Washington were to negotiate an export restraint pact with Tokyo, it should emphasize the need for the Japanese Government to protect Japanese companies from such suits by ''mandating the restraints in a legally binding manner.'' The effect of the opinion by the nation's chief legal officer was to complicate efforts by the Administration to work out such voluntary restraints. Letter to Brock The opinion, given in a letter to Bill Brock, the United States trade representative, was released today as a Cabinet-level committee continued to prepare recommendations for President Reagan on ways to aid the domestic auto industry. A similar opinion had been reached by the Justice Department under President Carter.

The Chief Medical Examiner of New York City said yesterday that he would investigate charges by striking physicians-in-training that patients at two municipal hospitals had died as a result of negligent care. The official, Dr. Elliot Gross, acted as the walkout by 2,000 interns and resident physicians went into its second day at seven municipal and two private voluntary hospitals. Meanwhile, officials at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx said they had ordered a formal inquiry by a committee of the hospital's medical board into the death of one patient and the irreversible brain damage suffered by another. On Tuesday, an inquiry was initiated at Coney Island Hospital into a death there.

AFEW years ago the design passion of the moment was built-in furniture - sleek sleeping platforms, bookshelves and cabinets constructed to look as if they were an architectural part of the rooms they inhabited. The operative word was seamless. Then someone realized that the trouble with built-ins was that you could not take them with you. If you happened to own a co-op apartment or loft, built-ins could increase the resale value of your space. But if you lived in a rental and eventually had to move, you might find that built-ins had solved design problems only to create financial ones.

On the morning of Feb. 24, Joseph McCloskey, 16 years old, the eldest son of a working-class Long Island family, stood before Judge Thomas Ryan Jr. in Nassau County District Court in Mineola. His left hand wadded a handkerchief. The right clutched the beads of a rosary. Trembling, he heard the judge sentence him for his first offense, the desecration of a synagogue. A fine of $150, 100 hours of service to be devoted to St. Brigid's Roman Catholic Church and a year's probation, Judge Ryan ordered. Eight days later, before evening services on Ash Wednesday, Joe and his parents, Mary and Jerry McCloskey, sat at their dining table. In the hope that some understanding could come from it, and with four of their other five children grouped around, they explored how such a thing had happened in their family and what the costs have been. ''I couldn't believe ...'' the father began, and as the son sat silently kneading his knuckles, his mother finished the thought: '' ... that he would be stupid enough to do something like that.''

The maestro lifted his baton. The orchestra struck the opening chords of Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphony No. 2. And the nation's lawmakers, resplendent in evening dress, relaxed in their red velvet theater seats and prepared to be lobbied. On this particular evening the National Symphony Orchestra, which may ask Congress to help bail it out of its financial problems, treated the new members of Congress to a concert and to drinks and a buffet supper afterward at the Watergate Hotel.