What was going on when I was born?

Two major weapons proposed by President Reagan, the MX missile in hardened silos and the B-1 bomber, are in jeopardy in Congress, according to Congressional, Reagan Administration and defense industry officials. At the same time, high-ranking Administration officials say that because of budgetary pressures, the Administration would not be averse to having the weapons proposals trimmed back. The fundamental reason both weapons are under close Congressional scrutiny is that they are expensive and are interim solutions, the officials said. Influential Senators and members of the House have asked with increasing insistence why huge sums should be spent in a time of fiscal austerity when better and longer-range solutions are in sight.

Near the beginning of Ronald Harwood's new play ''The Dresser,'' a small crisis erupts between an aging actor played by Paul Rogers, and his valet, a fussy young man played by Tom Courtenay. Ill, distracted, and weary of performing, night after night, year after year, the old actor, who is referred to only as ''Sir,'' is reluctant to go on stage again. It is England in January of 1942, and outside the theater, the distant rumblings of German air-raids are heard. ''What play is it tonight?'' the actor absent-mindedly asks, wondering which of his repertory of roles he is to perform. '' 'King Lear,' Sir,'' says his valet. Sir, who regards that play as ''the severest test known to an actor,'' reacts to the information with something approaching horror. His response is a single word - ''Impossible.'' Sir, of course, eventually does go on, and as ''The Dresser'' - which opens Thursday at the Brooks Atkinson Theater - proceeds to its end, the fictional actor's production also progresses to its sad and terrible conclusion. Shakespeare's famous tragedy, however, is not just another play within a play; rather, it serves, as Mr. Harwood points out, as a kind of ''mirror image'' of his own drama.

SOMERS IN these bucolic northern Westchester precincts, where the oaks and maples are losing their multicolored mantles and frost may cover unharvested pumpkins, deer will have to exercise more than their usual caution starting this morning. The archery hunting season opened at sunrise. By sunset, hundreds of archers will have taken to the fields and woods hoping to bring home a trophy. Most of them will not. Capturing a deer with a bow and arrow is difficult.

DESPITE public-opinion surveys showing that voters are having a difficult time clearly separating the major-party candidates for Governor, an unusually large turnout is expected at the polls on Tuesday. In addition to electing a Governor, voters will decide contests for all 120 seats in the State Senate and Assembly, as well as for county and municipal offices. And eight public questions - three bond issues, three constitutional amendments and two referendums - also will be decided. Donald Lan, the Secretary of State, said last week that the active primary-election contests in both parties last June had inspired increased voter registration, and that this had continued through the summer.

Certain exhibitions, while not especially noteworthy for the quality of the objects they contain, are nonetheless interesting for the way they illuminate the contemporary cultural scene. The show called ''An American Perspective,'' which is currently on view at the National Gallery of Art (through Jan. 31), is an event of this sort. It is not an exhibition of much interest, frankly, to anyone on the lookout for a vivid or transcendent esthetic experience. The art in it - 100 examples of 19th-century American painting, drawing and sculpture from the collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. - is mostly pretty dull. But as evidence of the runaway boom that has lately elevated even the most modest accomplishments of 19th-century American art to a position of unprecedented prominence, the show has an important story to tell. It may even be that ''An American Perspective,'' which will travel to museums in Fort Worth and Los Angeles after it closes in Washington, will mark a turning point in the way we come to terms with our national artistic heritage. Certainly it is hard to believe that the rampant overvaluation of certain aspects of American art can go much further than this without collapsing into a comedy of sizable dimensions.

THE 10 independent candidates for Governor this year have not quite captured the public's attention the way the late Henry Krajewski used to. Mr. Krajewski, a pig farmer from Secaucus and a perennial candidate for both President and Governor, ran on the slogan: ''This country is going to the pigs.'' A flamboyant speaker who died 15 years ago, Mr. Krajewski helped to establish a tradition of independent candidates in New Jersey, a tradition that some deride as simple buffoonery and others laud as a prime example of democracy at work. New Jersey has long had one of the most liberal standards for getting on the ballot. Forty days before the primary election, a candidate must file 800 signatures with the Secretary of State; also, he must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for 20 years and a resident of New Jersey for seven.

24, here two months ago in an exhibition game, the Giants' running game was lethargic. The team gained 75 yards that night, and when the regular season began two weeks later, it started going from bad to the worst in the National Football League. When the Giants and Jets meet here today, the Giants' running game will be relatively healthy. Part of the reason is the steady maturing of the offensive line. The major reason is a quiet craftsman named Rob Carpenter, who started the season as an unhappy blocking back for the Houston Oilers and has become a relatively happy fullback for the Giants.

NEW HAVEN THE view from Harkness Memorial Tower, nearly 200 feet above the Yale University campus, inspires a calm perspective. Below are the Gothic-style university buildings, beyond is the dwarfed city skyline and farther out lies the blurred autumn countryside. It is no wonder that Christian Pain, a stone carver who spends most of his time against this backdrop, sees his own place here so clearly. ''I am just like a mechanic or a bricklayer or anybody else,'' he said, insisting that his job of repairing the building's many statues is more technical than artistic.

Parliament today acceded to the wishes of Poland's Communist Party leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, and passed a resolution appealing for an immediate halt of all strikes. The appeal was backed by the threat of firmer action if it went unheeded, as General Jaruzelski asked yesterday. If the strikes continue, Parliament said, it will consider ''providing the Government with such legal means as are required by the situation.'' This was apparently a reference to a law banning strikes outright.

PURCHASING items in New York State and having them shipped home has for years been a popular and legal way for Connecticut shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes. But New York, in coming to terms with Massachussetts last week, now has agreements with three of its five bordering states prohibiting the practice, and talks involving similar agreements are continuing with its two remaining neighbors: Connecticut and New Jersey. Vermont in 1979, Pennsylvania earlier this year and Massachusetts last Monday signed reciprocal agreements with New York that require retailers to charge out-of-state buyers the sales tax of the state to which purchased items are shipped. Connecticut and New Jersey residents can still shop elsewhere, and out-of-staters can shop in those two states, tax free, so long as the items purchased are shipped across state lines. The only exception is when the store selling the item has an outlet in the state of the buyer.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK? Shucks. It used to get Mark Gastineau really annoyed. Everything about the Big Apple was just ... well, it wasn't like back home on the ranch. But now, he says, ''I feel like a native New Yorker.'' And he has been thinking about today's game. He doesn't care whether some of the Giants think he's a ''hot dog'' if he starts to whirl in the air - a recent innovation - after he sacks a quarterback. He is, he explains, proud to be a New York Jet. And these are, after all, the Giants his team is playing. ''How can players say it's just another game? I can't even get seats for my parents.'' But his love affair with New York had shaky beginnings. Once a budding rodeo star from the wide open spaces of Oklahoma and Arizona, he had been in New York only a few months when he was driving from his in-laws' home in Rockland County to his home in Point Lookout, L.I. ''We got stuck in an underpass going to the George Washington Bridge,'' Gastineau recalls. ''I remember I just sat there holding my breath. I was afraid to breathe the New York air. I said: 'I hate this. I'll never get used to it.' ''

The Rangers combined all their faults - weak goaltending, sloppy defense, and sporadic offense - tonight and were trounced, 7-3 by the Bruins at Boston Garden. The performance angered Coach Herb Brooks, who said his team's play was ''an embarrassment.'' The loss gave the Rangers a 3-8 record and left Brooks more visibly upset than he has been since he took control of the team in September. On the team's charter flight back to New York, he sat apart from General Manager Craig Patrick, with whom he usually reviews games and chats on the way home from road games. He said nothing to the players, not even greeting them or nodding to them as they passed him, as he usually does. When the plane arrived at the Marine Terminal of La Guardia Airport, the coach again avoided other members of the team and strode silently out of the terminal alone.