What was going on when I was born?

''A majority of the Congress are looking for larger cuts'' in planned military spending than those announced last night by the White House, Senator Pete V. Domenici, the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said today. But as President Reagan arrived late today at the White House from a weekend at Camp David, he defended his proposal to cut only a relatively small amount from the Defense Department budget. He told reporters, ''We've been cutting a budget that has been overgrown and extravagant over the years while in the same years, Defense has been a poor relative.'' The White House announcement last night brought to an end several weeks of intense maneuvering between Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and David A. Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget. It said that President Reagan had decided on cuts of $13 billion in projected military spending i n the fiscal years 1982-84 , as against the cuts of $20 billion to $30 billion sought by Mr. Stockman and senior White House aides. The fiscal year 1982 starts O ct. 1.

Congress will look for bigger cuts in military spending than those announced by the White House, a key Republican Senator said. Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said that increases in spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security needed to be pared. President Reagan defended the relatively small reductions in military spending. (Page A1.)

Country chic may be what vacationing New Yorkers consider this verdant corner of Connecticut, but country cheek is their gift to the local people, according to one side of a five-week debate going on in the area's weekly newspaper. It was Robert Osborn, a professional cartoonist and longtime resident of this handsome Revolutionary town, who sounded the call to arms. After one insult too many, he sent The Lakeville Journal a political drawing and an acerbic letter titled, ''The Ruiners of Country Life.'' The cartoon pictured two disgruntled local residents leaning against a fence asking, ''Have you seen the 'zoo' today?!'' Mr. Osborn wrote: ''The droves of young RICH ... with their wretched manners have poured in upon us who LIVE here. Each day we all know that our town is plugged with the rude, aggressive, the unkindly, from New York.''

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who less than two months ago voted for the Reagan Administration's tax cut bill, yesterday assailed that legislation and said he would introduce a bill tomorrow to reduce the size of the cut. The Senator readily conceded, however, that the measure could not pass without White House support. ''The tax cut was too large,'' the Senator said in a speech to be delivered at a meeting of the Business Council of New York State at the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake. ''That need not be the end of the world. Cut it back a bit.''

INTERNATIONAL Church and state in Brazil in new feud A2 U.N. General Assembly begins its 36th session on Tuesday A3 Egypt expels the correspondent in Cairo for Le Monde A4 Begin talks with Christian and Jewish groups A5 Around the World A7 Britons still seek lesson from riots A10 China tries to control quality of "foreign experts" A12 Peking magazine says Taiwan issue threatens U.S.-China ties A13 NATO war games open today in Denmark A13 GOVERNMENT/POLITICS Ruling clouds race for mayor in Atlanta A21 Integration lies at heart of redistricting dispute B8 Several New York City elections shrouded in uncertainty B9 WASHINGTON TALK Briefing A18 The Calendar A18 A reversal of roles in the Reagan Cabinet A18 Winning friends and influencing people with a seat at the oper a A18 GENERAL Around the Nation A16 Tent city grows in California nuclear protest A17 Testimony to begin in nurse's murder trial A22 Tax cases of two oil companies go to New York Attorney General B1 An investigation starts a disturbance at the Union County Jail B3 Young and old alike enjoy a County Fair on Third Avenue B3 RELIGION Papal encyclical on workers' rights due tomorrow A3 Connecticut congregation is split over autonomy, not religion B2 SPORTS MONDAY Auto Racing: Prost wins Italian Grand Prix C7 Baseball: Yankees defeat Red Sox C5 Mets lose to Cardinals C5 Peters leads Tigers past Indians, 8-6 C6 Castillo's pitching, hitting help Dodgers beat Reds, 4-2 C6 Boxing: THe heat will be on for Hearns and Leonard C1 Columns: George Vecsey on Bjorn Borg C4 Dave Anderson on the self-destruction of the Jets C10 Features: Sports World Specials C2 Question Box C11 Football: Giants defeat Redskins, 17-7 C1 Rogers's running leads Saints to 23-17 upset of Rams C8 Eagles' defense is the key in 13-3 victory over Patriots C9 Chargers defeat Lions, 28-23 C9 Bengals defeat Jets by 31-30 C10 Curry, Georgia Tech coach, engineers upset of Alabama C11 Golf: Jan Stephenson wins third L.P.G.A. event of year C3 Hockey: Rangers practice togetherness in Finland C3 Soviet Union wins Canada Cup C3 Horse Racing: A wide-open field for the Eclipse Awards C2 Outdoors: Switching fishing strategy C11 Soccer: Buljan is a bright spot for Cosmos C7 Statistics C12 Tennis: Finalists' entourages watch in tense intimacy C4 STYLE Relationships B12 Twins or triplets: How families cope B12 Creating styles for disabled B12 ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT Grant Johanessen plays Beethoven piano works C13 Max Brand still very much alive as a writer C13 Commodores bring their rhythm and blues to Radio City C13 Bernstein's "Mass" at Kennedy Center anniversary C14 Ben Starr's comedy "Q.E.D." opens Off Broadway C17 Carpenter's biography, W.H. Auden," is review ed C17 Downtown Dance Arts Troupe salutes Isadora Du ncan C17 Jackie Cain and Roy Kral stress jazz side of singing C17 Yuri Gezentsvey, violinist, and Harriet Serr, pianist, in recital C17 Bobbi Rogers sings songs by Richard Rodgers C18 Library to use gift to keep two branches open C18 "Hill Street Blues" wins record number of Emm ys C24 OBITUARIES Helen Humes, popular ballad and blues singer D15 Eugenio Montale, Italian poet and Nobel Prize-winner D15 FEATURES/NOTES Going Out Guide C14 Notes on People C18 NEWS ANALYSIS Philip Taubman discusses implications of the Wilson case A1 Jane Brody on intent of proposed school lunch changes A19 EDITORIALS/LETTERS/OP-ED Editorials A24 Merchants at the summit 51 percent unemployment Shrinking lunches Jack Rosenthal: watches Letters A24 Flora Lewis: thinking of Israel's future A25 Anthony Lewis: no interest in justice A25 Fred Halliday: the U.N. and Afghanistan A25 Carol Lamberg: west side renewal A25

New model introduction time is rapidly approaching, the annual autumn ritual during which the automobile companies display their shiny new products, pronounce them the best ever and issue optimistic sales forecasts. This year, though, is going to be different. The domestic industry, which is in the midst of converting to smaller, more fuel-efficient models, is simply too busy to time the delivery of new lines of cars to coincide with the traditional hoopla. The result is that new cars will be introduced gradually from the end of this month through next spring.

The Reagan Administration, rejecting a position taken by the Administration of Jimmy Carter, has approved a controversial plan to meet air quality standards in the New York City region. As a result, New York is fully in compliance with the Clean Air Act for the first time since the law was passed by Congress more than a decade ago. Various elements of the Clean Air Act have been met over the years, but the one sticking point - now resolved -was whether the state was making appropriate mass transit improvements to discourage the use of automobiles in New York City and in the surrounding counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland. The intent of the law is that carbon monoxide levels in the region be reduced to Federal standards by the end of 1987.

International The use of poisonous chemicals in Southeast Asian conflicts is demonstrated by evidence in the possession of the United States, Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said in a speech in West Berlin intended to boost West European morale and invigorate the Western alliance. He said the acquisition of the evidence followed ''continuing reports'' that the Soviet Union and its allies had been using ''lethal chemical agents'' in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. (Page A1, Column 5.) Mr. Haig's visit to West Berlin set off demonstrations by thousands of people protesting United States foreign policies. The police estimated that as many as 30,000 demonstrators turned out; the protest organizers said 80,000 had taken part. It was probably the biggest street demonstration in West Berlin since the Vietnam War, the police said. (A9:1.)

John McEnroe frustrated Bjorn Borg in four sets yesterday and won his third consecutive United States Open singles title. The 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory made McEnroe the first player since the legendary Bill Tilden (1920-1925) to win three straight national crowns. It also assured him the No. 1 ranking for the year, widening the gap between other challengers. But the fury and dimension of previous McEnroe-Borg duels were missing in this match at the National Tennis Center. The match ended in strange circumstances, with McEnroe kissing his mother and happily g reeting his father on the court, but with Borg leaving before the traditional awards ceremon ies. Borg, despondent, had lost an Open final for the fourth time an d had been unsuccessful for the 10th time in his quest for the elusiv e title.

A top Common Market official is expected to press the Commerce Department this week to let European steel producers sell steel in the United States at prices below the official import, or trigger, price. Many industry and Government sources believe Viscount Etienne Davignon, industrial commissioner of the European Economic Community, will argue that the dollar's rise in foreign-exchange markets has made it possible for Europeans to sell steel in the United States more cheaply. The struggle over trigger prices has become increasingly heated in the last two months. The Europeans are flatly challenging the trigger price mechanism, t he Americans are scrambling to compete with the Euro peans in a declining steel market and the Japanese are threatening r etaliation if the Europeans get special consideration. During all th is, the Commerce Department has been in the middle.

The Costa Rican Government has announced that it will request that a meeting be held with its principal creditors in New York later this month to seek renegotiation of its $2.4 billion foreign debt. The decision was not surprising to foreign bankers following Costa Rica's decision last July to suspend payments of the principal on its commercial debt. Since then, Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb of New York has been advising the Government on handling its debt.

Will Isabelle survive? Did the big breakthrough come in time? Or does disaster lurk just beyond the next fiscal year? Are jealous rivals plotting a surprise? And is it true what they say about Isabelle and the director? For more than a year, the saga of Isabelle - a troubled, halfbillion-dollar atom smasher under construction in two 2.5-mile rings here at the Brookhaven National Laboratory - has gripped the world of high-energy physics like a romance serial. In the latest episode, Isabelle - a fanciful name for intersecting storage accelerator or ISA - appears to have been saved in the nick of time by the invention of the right kind of magnet to focus the flying protons sent crashing into each other to see what comes out. Magnet problems were the lastest snag in the four-year-old project, which was designed to help scientists discover the most basic building blocks of matter. Cost overruns at a time of Federal budget cuts have imperiled the project's completion as envisioned.