What was going on when I was born?

Agfa-Gevaert, the photographic products subsidiary of the Bayer chemical group of West Germany, will acquire 51 percent of the Compugraphic Corporation, the leading maker of photocomposition equipment, for about $60 million, the two companies announced yesterday. Analysts labeled the transaction a ''distress sale,'' noting that Compugraphic had suffered a sharp two-year decline after more than a decade of rapid growth. The company's dividend of 7 cents a share was eliminated in April, its banks forced it to lower its credit line in July to $40 million from $70 million and analysts expect it to report next month that it finished the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 with a loss on sales of about $280 million.

Working under a contract to maintain Libyan aircraft and train pilots, Edwin P. Wilson, a former American intelligence agent who is now a fugitive in Libya, sent a retired Army sergeant here this year to offer $60,000 to $72,000 a year to pilots, mechanics and other flight personnel if they would work for the Libyan Air Force. According to several people familiar with the recruiting effort, Kenneth G. Beck, the Army veteran, returned in July to southeast Alabama, where he lived before going to North Africa to work for Mr. Wilson, in an effort to recruit a dozen pilots and other specialists for Mr. Wilson's Libyan operations. Some of those interviewed by Mr. Beck said that his main recruiting pitch was that the job was a chance to earn a lot of money in a short time. It could not be determined how many Americans Mr. Beck recruited. Only one, Richard L. Love, a helicopter pilot, is known to have signed on with Mr. Wilson's London-based company, Western Recruitment Inc., as a result of Mr. Beck's efforts. Officials at Gatwick Airport at London said today that Mr. Love and several others left this morning on a flight to Libya.

As more than 5,000 followers sang the ''Battle Hymn of the Republic,'' the Rev. Sun Myung Moon strode to a podium in Foley Square Park yesterday to declare that he was innocent of Federal tax fraud charges and that they resulted from religious and racial bigotry. ''I would not be standing here today if my skin were white and my religion were Presbyterian,'' the leader of the Unification Church, flanked by his top aide and translator, Bo Hi Pak, shouted in Korean. Dozens of bodyguards surrounded the speakers' platform at the carefully planned rally, which, in addition to patriotic songs, included speeches by supporters of Mr. Moon. The church leader, who arrived from South Korea Wednesday night, addressed the rally after appearing in Federal court across the street, where he was arraigned on the tax charges.

New orders for manufacturers' durable goods plunged 2.9 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported today. It was the biggest drop in 16 months and the latest in what has become an almost daily stream of economic indicators describing a recession. Robert Ortner, the Commerce Department's chief economist, said the durable goods report was ''not good for the immediate outlook for capital spending in the economy, which, after all, is the important component we're trying to get turned around.''

The General Motors Corporation today reported a loss of $468 million for this year's third quarter - a first indication that the Big Three auto makers are plunging back into the red after reporting profits for the second quarter. G.M.'s loss was larger than expected. General Motors, the world's largest automobile manufacturer, blamed sluggish sales, rising costs and expenses involved in bringing out 1982 models for its first quarterly loss since the third quarter of 1980, when it lost $567 million. ''I was anticipating a loss of about $300 million, but the third quarter is always tricky,'' said Philip Fricke, an analyst with the brokerage house of Goldman, Sachs & Company. The third quarter, when automobile companies shut down their plants to prepare for the introduction of new models, is traditionally their weakest period of the year. Despite the latest loss, General Motors' revenues increased to $13.4 billion in the third quarter from $12 billion in the like period of last year, primarily as a result of increased vehicle prices.

International The President stressed conciliation at the opening session of the conference of 14 developing and eight industrialized countries at the Mexican resort of Cancun. Mr. Reagan renewed a commitment to negotiations intended to narrow the gap between rich and poor nations, but he listed conditions for United States participation that suggested there was no significant change in Washington's basic approach to third-world issues. (Page A1, Col. 6.) Delegates reacted coolly to President Reagan's call for multiple forums to negotiate third-world development. Many of the 22 delegations at the conference of industrialized and developing countries seek a prompt start in global talks designed to put together a package for aid, trade and finance to benefit the poor nations. (A12:4-6.)

COWBOY hats, western shirts and tooled-leather boots. Soft lights and hard country music. Boisterous beer drinkers dancing the Cotton Eyed Joe. Until recently, you didn't encounter this sort of thing in New York City. When the Lone Star Cafe opened at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street in February 1977, it was mostly a gathering place for transplanted Southerners. With the exception of several havens for bluegrass and other more traditional Southern music, it was the only club of its kind in the city, an island in a sea of discos. Now local country music clubs are proliferating. Some book seasoned traveling bands from as far away as Virginia, the Carolinas, and even Texas and Oklahoma. Others draw Mimi Sheraton on eating country-western, page c20 on a small but expanding pool of home-grown country music talent. A few are hoping to follow the Lone Star Cafe's lead and draw recording stars from Nashville, Austin and other country music centers on a regular basis.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority today stripped the air traffic controllers' union of its status as legal representative of the controllers because of its action in calling the illegal nationwide strike that began Aug. 3. It was the first time that a union had ever lost its rights as the exclusive bargaining agent for Government employees. The union appealed the decision and a Federal appeals court issued a temporary stay of the decertification. Robert Bonner, deputy clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said that the court had issued a temporary stay until next Monday, when it expects a response from the Government.

As strikes and strike threats multiplied throughout Poland today, the leadership of the Solidarity union assembled in Gdansk to come up with a response to what it contends is a campaign of harassment. The union executive, meeting under the leadership of Lech Walesa, who returned from France yesterday, was also searching for a way to deal with local wildcat strikes protesting food shortages and other grievances. There were strikes or strike threats in 28 out of 49 provinces. Among them was Wroclaw, where the situation eased today after a tense night in which an angry crowd of 1,500 gathered outside a police station to protest the detention of unionists.

G.M. lost $468 million in the third quarter, more that expected. It was General Motors' first quarterly loss since the $567 million it lost in 1980's third quarter. The company blamed sluggish sales and rising costs. The figures raised the possibility that the world's largest auto maker might for the first time register losses in two consecutive years. (Page A1.) Grumman's employee investment plan is under investigation by the Labor Department for possible pension law violations, Washington officials said. The department has already sued to oust trustees of Grumman's pension plan. At issue are the intentions of each fund to purchase company shares in order to thwart a takeover by LTV. (D1.)

Congress was told by two economists today that the Reagan Administration's military buildup might result in higher prices in some industries. Alice M. Rivlin, director of the Congressional Budget Office, and Gary M. Wenglowski, director of economic research at Goldman, Sachs & Company, the investment banking firm, said at a Congressional hearing that such effects might not occur for two or three years because most industries now have unused production capacity. But both said that by the middle of the decade, production bottlenecks and upward pressures on wages, other costs and prices could occur.

Buddy Smith, an insurance agent in Warrenville, Ill., bought a computer in 1978 to automate his record-keeping and mailings. ''By 1980,'' he said, ''it ended up in my basement, with a year and a half of absolute hell in between.'' The computer, Mr. Smith said, would not function, no matter what he tried. He took a college course on computers. Once he stayed in the office three straight days and nights working with the computer, only to be taken to the hospital suffering from exhaustion and bronchial pneumonia. Finally, he said: ''I took the computer out of here. I couldn't stand the sight of it.'' Now Mr. Smith is suing the Burroughs Corporation, the manufacturer of the $21,000 machine, contending that the company fraudulently misrepresented the capabilities of its product, a charge that Burroughs is expected to deny.