What was going on when I was born?

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation today announced a program to acquire low-interest, long-term mortgages now held by the nation's thrift industry and convert them into securities that the thrifts could use to raise cash more easily. Philip R. Brinkerhoff, the mortgage corporation's president, said the aim was to convert $2 billion of such mortgages this year and up to $20 billion by the end of 1982, thereby providing an important source of liquidity for beleaguered savings and loan associations and mutual savings banks. Mr. Brinkerhoff said the program had already been put into effect on a test basis and will be operating full scale by next month. The savings banks and savings and loans, collectively known as thrifts, hold some $600 billion of mortgages, the bulk of the $800 billion mortgage debt outstanding. More than 90 percent of the total mortgage debt was written to yield 12 1/2 percent or less, compared with current interest rates of about 17 percent that thrifts must pay to acquire funds.

The Government began officially accepting applications for air traffic controller jobs today. It thus moved ahead with a complicated two-year plan to replace striking union workers by resorting to round-the-clock classes at the controller training academy in Oklahoma City. At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration reported negligible effects from the first half of a two-day sympathy boycott by Portuguese controllers. Most of the delays in arriving international flights were measured in minutes, although a few flights landing in Atlanta and Miami were held up more than two hours. The aviation agency rerouted about one-fifth of the trans-Atlantic traffic.

The stock market dropped sharply yesterday as the concern of investors over interest rates continued to weaken prices. The Dow Jones industrial average closed with a decline of 10.18 points, to 926.75. The Dow, which was in the minus column throughout the session, has declined 22 points in the last four seasons. Analysts said investors were becoming increasingly convinced that interest rates would continue to remain high for some time.

SIGMUND FREUD is undergoing re-analysis. Nearly a century after the Viennese master produced a key to the secrets of the human psyche, scholars are focusing growing attention on some of the enigmas that still obscure the personal and professional life of the founder of psychoanalysis. These include the evolution of his critical theory of infantile sexuality, his long ''bondage'' to a quixotic visionary who became his closest confidant and his relationship to his parents and other family members. ''They are looking for secrets,'' says Anna Freud, his 85-year-old daughter and a prominent child psychologist. ''But there are no secrets.'' Yet stimulated by a wealth of new research and soon-to-be-released Freud letters, scholars are gaining new perspectives on the sometimes secretive genius who has been, in some ways, the most relentlessly scrutinized figure in history, beginning with his own heroic selfanalysis in 1897.

Fuqua Industries' board of directors rejected yesterday an offer made by Forstmann Little & Company to acquire the Atlanta-based conglomerate for $25 a share, or a total of $322.5 million. A previous offer made by 35 members of Fuqua's management to acquire the 12.9 million outstanding shares at $20 a share remained under review. A statement released by the board said the financing for the offer from Forstmann was ''so conditional that it was not acceptable.'' Forstmann specializes in leveraged buyouts, a method of acquiring other companies by using the assets of the targeted concern as collateral for the aquisition loan.

Mobutu's presence and power are pervasive in Zaire A2 Colombia is racked by a resurgence of guerrilla warfare A3 U.N.'s chief peacekeeper says effort is half the battle A4 Haig's announcement on ending embargo on jets for Israel A6 Syrians try to quell Moslem-Communist clashes in Beirut A7 Sri Lanka declares emergency to combat ethnic rioting A8 Around the World A9 General Around the Nation A12 Indianapolis begins cross-district school desegration A12 Doctor heading defoliant study assailed by veterans A12 Judge rules Guayana "confession" by Layton admissible A16 Over 5,000 pass "last chance" reading and math tests B4 Jerseyan seized in South in slaying of officer in Queens B5 California farmers conduct own fruit-fly spraying B8 Industry/Labor Labor leaders ponder ways to settle public employee disputes B6 Portugues boycott has slight effect in delaying flights B7 Obituaries Arthur W. Keylor, former Time Inc. executive B5 William M. Jennings, president of New York Rangers B19 Sir Humphrey Waldock, head of International Court B19 Herma Briffault, translator of French and Spanish B19 Estelle Griswold, figure in state's birth control law B19 Features/Notes Man in the News: Marvin Shoob, a firm but compassionate jurist B9 Notes on People B13 Science Times Children's emotional problems are linked to poor nutrition C1 Education: Experiment in Harlem gets good marks C1 Biologists contend while sparrow is nearextinction C1 Science Watch C2 Science Q&A C2 Baltimore aquarium: birds, fish, reptiles adapt to a new life C3 About Education: Key to learning in"unsolvable" problems C5 Arts/Entertainment Treat Williams in role of celebrity-of-the-moment C7 New York Film Festival to begin Sept. 25 C7 Moss Hart's "Light Up the Sky" revived on L.I. C8 Haydn and Stravinsky festival at Tully next month C8 Nancy Ringham, an understudy, opening in "My Fair Lady" C8 "Shakespeare and Tragedy" by John Bayley is reviewed C10 Patricia Soliman named Simon & Schuster associate publisher C10 Folk festival closes with Woodstock Mountains Revue C10 Arts task force asks tax break for contributors C11 "This Simian World" is being published for third time C22 Style Fashion Notes B12 Latest swimsuits demand sleekness in the wearer B12 New movie spoofs the designer jeans craze B12 Sports Hurley eyes safety spot with Steelers B14 King of Giants needs a job, but is unfazed by cutdown day B14 Yankees bow to White Sox, 4-1, for fourth loss in a row B15 Barber, Jets' rookie fullback, is sidelined for the season B15 N.A.S.L. directors discuss future of Diplomats and other teams B15 LaRussa of White Sox awaits answers on playoff format B15 George Vecsey on the rude awak ening of Lee Mazzilli B16 Brooks seems to have a lock on Mets' third-base job B16 Jefferson, holdout with Chargers, placed on reserve list B16 Lendl beats Teltscher for Canadian Open tennis title B16 Bird of Cubs stops Dodgers, 3-1; Lopes suffers injury B17 News Analysis John F. Burns on Moscow's approach to Polish problem A1 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A20 Voting rights north The right place for education Ground war at Newark airport Hugh Price: national parks Letters A20 Tom Wicker: rough going for further Reagan tax cuts A21 Martin Ebon: arson and anarchy in Greece A21 David Boorstin: a parable for bad times A21 Robert M. Price: can Africa afford not to sell minerals? A21

The Federal Office of Government Ethics today released documents showing that William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence, intended to amend his personal financial disclosure to include additional assets worth more than $250,000. Those holdings were not reported by Mr. Casey, who is a multimillionaire, in the report he submitted Jan. 12. The documents, correspondence from Mr. Casey and the C.I.A., show that he planned to amend his report to reflect 10 additional business interests. They also show that Mr. Casey informed the ethics office of three contingent liabilities totaling $472,000 in which he had guaranteed repayment of loans and a direct liability of $18,000.

International Jet shipments to Israel are resuming under a decision by President Reagan. A State Department spokesman said that 16 F-16 and F-15 fighters that had been held up for 10 weeks would be shipped within a few days. During the suspension, the United States voted for a resolution in the United Nations Security Council condemning Israel's bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in June. (Page A1, Column 6.) An accord on oil pricing among the OPEC producers seemed more likely as Libya indicated it was willing to reduce its official charge. Libya, together with Nigeria and Algeria, has insisted on charging $40 a barrel at a time when world oil markets have been glutted and buyers have balked at the high prices. (A1:5.)

President Reagan's decisions to slash the budget for the development of solar energy, to decontrol oil prices and to force solar resources to compete on a free-market basis with other fuels have combined to revolutionize the infant solar energy industry in this country. While industrialists are divided over whether that revolution represents a grand opportunity or an unmitigated disaster, they all agree that the solar business will never be the same. Mr. Reagan's supporters argue that his reduction of Government funding for solar development will put an end to the creeping ''solar socialism'' of the Carter era. Through its largesse, they say, the previous Administration attracted a great number of people who were enamored with the solar idea, but produced equipment that only the Department of Energy could afford to buy. ''We totally concur with the Federal Government's approach,'' said J. Robert Maxwell, director of solar programs for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. ''In the past, if a guy took out a piece of glass, poured some fluid on it, held it up to the sun and got some voltage off it, he made a headline and got some Government funds. Those days are over.

An article yesterday incorrectly described the status of the United States Ambassador's post in France. Arthur A. Hartman, appointed in 1977, remains in the post.

In what might be a major breakthrough in the bitter OPEC dispute over oil pricing, Libya indicated today a willingness to reduce its official oil price of $40 a barrel and Saudi Arabia said it might raise its price from $32 a barrel. Analysts said the conciliatory statements on both sides seemed to indicate the possibility of a compromise that would put official OPEC prices in a range of roughly from $33 or $34 a barrel to $37 a barrel. The current range is from the $32 for a 42-gallon barrel charged by the Saudis to the $40 charged by Libya and the two other African members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Nigeria and Algeria. The new price range, if it is in fact proposed and ratified at an OPEC meeting here on Wednesday, would have little effect on the prices Americans pay for gasoline and other oil products.

AN international team of investigators reports that even mild caloric deficiencies in the diet of an infant or a pregnant woman can disrupt a youngster's emotional stability by the time he reaches school age. At the same time, the researchers have found, such ''mild-to-moderate undernutrition'' does not appear to affect the higher intellectual and learning abilities significantly. Although the devastating physical and mental effects of severe malnutrition are well known, the scientists say theirs is the first study to link minor nutritional problems in early life to the behavioral and social development of youngsters as old as 6 to 8 years. The researchers cautioned against minimizing the behavioral effects of other factors, such as general health care, family upbringing and neighborhood and school environment.