What was going on when I was born?

The crisis of confidence over the French franc worsened today, on President Francois Mitterrand's first full day in office. Money continued to pour out of the country despite the tough defenses the new Government set up late last night, hours after the inauguration. In a further bid to halt the flight of capital abroad, the French central bank said this morning that it would raise its key interest rate to a record 22 percent on Monday. This represents an increase of four percentage points and is the third rise since President Mitterrand's electoral victory 12 days ago.

In yet another piece of surprising economic news, the Labor Department reported today that consumer prices last month rose by four-tenths of 1 percent, the lowest monthly increase since October 1977 except for a freak result last July. If the April increase in the Consumer Price Index were to continue for 12 months, it would produce an annual rate of 5.1 percent, as against 12.4 percent for all of last year and 13.3 percent in 1979. The rise in April was the third month this year in which retail prices climbed at what would be an annual rate of less than 10 percent. In the New York-northeastern New Jersey area, the index rose onehalf of 1 percent. The increase was marked by higher costs for transportation, restaurant meals, and natural gas and electricity used in the home. (Page 10.)

Roy L. Williams, interim president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and four other men were indicted today by a Federal grand jury for allegedly conspiring to bribe Senator Howard W. Cannon, Democrat of Nevada. The others were Allen M. Dorfman, 58 years old, a Chicago insurance executive long identified by law-enforcement officials as having ties to organized crime figures; Joseph Lombardo, 52, reputedly a member of the crime syndicate in Chicago; Thomas F. O'Malley, 44, an employer-trustee of the teamsters' Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, based in Chicago, and Andrew G. Massa, 63, director of labor relations for the pension fund and its related health and welfare fund. Mr. Williams said in a statement released here this afternoon that the charges were ''a damn lie,'' and he accused ''the Federal bureaucracy'' and ''headline-grabbing politicians'' of trying to run the teamsters' union. Efforts to reach the other defendants by phone were unavailing.

A pilotless Israeli plane was shot down today during a reconnaissance mission over eastern Lebanon by one of the Syrian missile batteries whose removal Israel has demanded. Syria said its forces brought down two Israeli drones. Israel confirmed the loss of one. (Lebanese officials said that the Syrians fired two missiles but that one missed, United Press International reported.)

President Reagan said today that he and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany were in agreement on all the issues they discussed. ''I think we have established a cordial relationship and a friendship that bodes well for the future and for the West,'' he said. ''I would like to agree with every line of the President,'' Mr. Schmidt added as he and Mr. Reagan bade farewell on the White House lawn after two days of talks. Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said at a news conference this afternoon, that he was authorized by Mr. Schmidt to say that the West German leader was ''100 percent satisfied with the outcome of his visit to Washington.'' Mr. Schmidt ''found no surprises'' and discovered that he and Mr. Reagan worked together very well, Mr. Haig said.

The picture-postcard rolling hills and valleys along the Hudson River near here are no longer just bucolic backdrops for travelers between New York City and the upstate resorts and cities - they now make up the fastest-growing area in New York State. In the last 10 years, according to the Bureau of the Census, seven of the eight counties in the Mid-Hudson Valley, stretching from New York City nearly to Albany, showed large population gains. Putnam County, for example, increased by 36.2 percent, Greene by 23.3 and Orange by 17.1. Growth in four other counties - Columbia, Dutchess, Ulster and Rockland -ranged from 10.2 percent to 15.5 percent, The eighth county, Westchester, showed a decline, losing 3.1 percent of its population.

Although it has not yet defused the missile crisis in Lebanon, the shuttle diplomacy of the American special envoy, Philip C. Habib, has begun to produce a subtle change in Israel's assessment of the problem. Since April 29, when Syria first moved batteries of antiaircraft missiles into Lebanon, Israel's stake in a political solution has grown, and the alternative of military action, which at first seemed such a decisive, conclusive answer, has developed serious liabilities. Military Force Is Not Ruled Out The shift in perception is not absolute and does not rule out armed force should diplomatic efforts fail. But Mr. Habib's two weeks in the region have provided a cooling-off period, time for Syria to reinforce its defenses and a chance for the Israelis to analyze and define more sharply their security interests across their northern border.

After all the excitement of his graduation last night, after the Governor's speech and after the state helicopter kicked up the sage and departed, Rusty Hoffman celebrated like a typical graduate of West Desert High School. He went rabbit hunting. There was still good light in the evening hours, the sun setting over the Deep Creek Range behind the school, and to the east the rabbits began to appear on the dirt roads of the western Utah desert. Rusty felt lucky. After all, Scott M. Matheson, the Governor of Utah, had been here to deliver the commencement address to the graduating seniors - both of them.

Mehmet Ali Agca grew up on the other side of the railroad tracks in the Boztepe, or Gray Hill, slum district of this eastern Anatolian city. The people who knew him say that he had never been in trouble, that he had a ''clean'' record when he left Malatya at 19. Police sources here confirm that he had no record as a troublemaker. ''He was good and honest and brilliant, just an ordinary boy,'' said Adnan Agca, the brother of the man, now 23, who is accused of shooting Pope John Paul II. But political sources insist that Mehmet Ali Agca was associated with extreme right-wing organizations known as Idealist Clubs. The clubs were known to be affiliated with and inspired by the Nationalist Action Party, although there was no official link between the two.

Pope John Paul II had the last 14 stitches removed today from his abdomen and back, and doctors declared that he was making satisfactory overall progress despite a continuing slight fever that caused them to extend his ''guarded'' prognosis. The 61-year-old Pope received a visit from the Italian President, Sandro Pertini, who said after their 30-minute chat: ''I was greatly pleased to find His Holiness in great shape, much better than in my two previous visits.

Soong Ching-ling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen, was visited at her bedside by relatives from San Francisco and Hong Kong, the official New China News Agency said today. She is about 90 and has been in critical condition from worsening leukemia and heart disease, according to the news agency. Her husband led the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Manchu dynasty.

Edwin O. Reischauer, former United States Ambassador to Japan, said today that after he discovered 20 years ago the United States Navy had a barge bearing nuclear arms in Japanese waters, ''I blew my top'' and the Navy told him they would withdraw it. Mr. Reischauer, reached by telephone in Boston, said the ship was anchored off a Marine air base at Iwakuni, in central Japan, and appeared to violate American understandings with Japan on nuclear weapons. Mr. Reischauer said, ''I immediately protested to Washington.'' He said officials there asserted that they would take care of it and he presumed they did. Mr. Reischauer is now a professor at Harvard.