What was going on when I was born?

An agreement to change the leases covering Kennedy International and La Guardia Airports was announced yesterday by New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Officials from both sides said the agreement, which followed 18 months of wrangling over financial terms, would stimulate at least $500 million in construction and create thousands of jobs at the airports in the next 15 years. The accord represents a compromise, and representatives of both sides indicated they were satisfied that they would benefit somewhat and were not very concerned with what they had given up.

Two high schools on the Upper West Side - Louis D. Brandeis and Martin Luther King Jr. - are expected to be merged, creating a school that would include training for backstage jobs in the performing arts. The 11th and 12th grades of the merged school, according to the plan, would be housed in the present King High School building at 122 Amsterdam Avenue, directly behind Lincoln Center, where many people with such skills find employment. ''New programs will be developed in collaboration with Lincoln Center in theater and stage technology, entertainment business management and musical instrument repair,'' Richard F. Halverson, the deputy schools chancellor, said yesterday at a Board of Education committee meeting. Final approval must be given at a regular board meeting.

International A victory for foreign aid was marked as 97 House Republicans heeded an appeal by President Reagan and joined the Democrats in approving a $5.7 billion assistance authorization for the current fiscal year. The vote was 222 to 184. Many of the Republican supporters had never before voted in favor of foreign aid. (Page A1, Column 1.) A visa for Yelizaveta Alekseyeva was reported promised in Moscow. Miss Alekseyeva, in behalf of whose emigration effort Andrei D. Sakharov had gone on a hunger strike, said she had been told by a state security official that she would be allowed to leave and that Dr. Sakharov, as a result, had ended his 17-day fast. (A1:2-3.)

With unusual support from Republicans, the House of Representatives tonight passed a bill that would authorize $5.7 billion in foreign aid in the year that began on Oct. 1. The vote on the measure, which President Reagan called the ''minimum necessary'' aid legislation, was 222 to 184. The Senate voted earlier to authorize $5.8 billion in foreign aid. It will now be up to a House-Senate conference committee to resolve the differences between the two measures.

Anthony G. Amsterdam, the principal architect of legal efforts to abolish capital punishment in the United States, offered a primer to civil libertarians Tuesday night on how to deal with what they regard as an increasingly hostile Federal judiciary. Professor Amsterdam, considered by many legal experts to be the foremost practitioner before the United States Supreme Court, suggested that the era in which liberals could protect constitutional liberties through the Federal judiciary had ended. He suggested a variety of approaches for keeping cases out of the Federal appellate courts. And he urged that when disputes necessarily went that route, civil-liberties lawyers had to address conservative concerns and apply conservative rhetoric to win.

THE master craftsman Gustav Stickley turned out his plain, boxy oak furniture, stripped of decoration other than exposed joints, at his factory workshop outside Syracuse. Perhaps the leading designer in the style known as Mission or American Arts and Crafts, Stickley drew ideas and inspiration from the British Arts and Crafts movement. He translated it into an American idiom and proselytized on behalf of his new style in his magazine, The Craftsman. His brothers, Leopold and J. George, who had their own business, also made notable contributions to the style. But the vogue for Arts and Crafts furniture was short-lived. It began to be popular around 1903 and fell out of fashion around World War I. After the war a new sophistication emerged; Stickley's designs were not rediscovered by collectors until about a decade ago.

''I don't want to make a romantic story when the life of my parents is still in peril.'' - Alexey Semyonov, stepson of Andrei D. Sakharov. (A16:2.)

Producer prices for finished goods, slowed by a drop in food prices, rose only five-tenths of 1 percent last month, providing another sign of the general decline in the rate of inflation this year. The increase in the index, which measures prices of finished goods, generally at the wholesale level, was below the six-tenths of 1 percent rise in October, but well above the increases of one-tenth of 1 percent in August and two-tenths of 1 percent in September. The November increase amounts to 6 percent a year, before compounding. Thus far this year, producer prices have increased only 7.4 percent, a rate that almost guarantees that 1981 will be the first year of single-digit inflation for producer prices since 1978. In addition, unless there is a very large and unexpected increase this month, this year's rate will be the lowest since 6.9 percent in 1977.

whether it was pure Gustav Stickley, Leopold and J. George Stickley, or even Sears Roebuck Stickley - made a philosophical point through form alone. It was almost morality furniture: straight, stern lines; honest joints; no paint; exposed grain; modest sheen. From coast to coast, sober, sturdy furniture returned anyone who lived with it to the basics - the outdoor life, vigor and health, crafts. This furniture, if for no reason other than its weight, affirmed the permanence of the house and the family.

Mobil said it intended to buy up to 25 percent of U.S. Steel as a tactic to win out over the nation's largest steelmaker in the takeover battle for Marathon Oil. Most of Marathon's shares have already been tendered to U.S. Steel. (Page A1.) Chrysler said several companies seemed interested in buying its Chrysler Defense subsidiary, which makes Army tanks. (D5.)

Reporter's Notebook: East-West rivalry in paradise A2 Greek blocks NATO communique A3 Rightist elected head of Greece's New Democracy Party A4 Turkish military plans to demand death for 52 union leaders A5 Iranian successes reported in war with Iraq A7 Group of U.S. Baptists ends visit to Israel A11 Refugee group reverses policy on Soviet Jews A12 Hijackers of Libyan jetliner sur- render in Beirut A14 At Madrid talks, cutoff date is near but agreement is not A15 Alexey Semyonov, in Washing- ton, hopeful on emigration A16 Government/Politics States warned to expect even deeper cuts in federal aid A24 Anderson calls off session on reapportionment B3 Koch explains his "centrist" phi- losophy to Yale students B6 Washington Talk Briefing B8 Required reading B8 Decision file B8 Newcomer to capital has caught President's attention B8 Michael Deaver has subtle, per- vasive White House influence B8 General Around the Nation A18 Mine deaths raise questions on U.S. safety monitoring A18 Fund for children of 8 killed in Iran is lagging A22 The Philadelphia Journal will shut unless cuts are made A29 Mental patient guilty of killing ex-wife while out on a pass B5 B4 Home Section Home Living with Mission furniture on the East and West Coasts C1 Lady Mendl's last treasures are sold C1 Home computers as stocking- stuffers C1 Fire-detector law is clearing confusion C3 Finding replacements for broken china sets C5 Care of the Christmas tree C11 Browsing among new design and furniture books C12 Hers C2 Helpful Hardware C2 Home Beat C3 Home Improvement C4 Lawsuits challenge the Nativity scene C9 Design Notebook: Window, room, furniture C10 Gardening: Cactuses thrive on lit- tle attention C13 Health/Science Jungle search brings bad news and good news A27 Woman with Elephant Man dis- ease has surgery D24 Studies say homosexuals are vul- nerable to common viruses D24 Religion Catholics mark 50th anniversary of Cardinal Cody A19 Arts/Entertainment Christmas program sung by Gay Men's Chorus C14 Damien Leake's "Child of the Sun" is staged C17 Wagner's 1834 "Die Feen" to have U.S. premiere C17 Eugene Van Grona gives a dance program C21 When magic doesn't happen, theatergoers are disappointed C21 Two plays by Strindberg staged at the Roundabout C25 Aharon Appelfeld's "The Age of Wonder" is reviewed C26 Alvin Ailey dancers perform his "Night Creature" C26 Agustin Anievas, pianist, offers Liszt and Brahms C28 How the most popular beer com- mercial is made C29 Eastman Chamber Players are heard in concert C29 WNEW-TV explores rising rate of teen-age suicide C32 Obituaries Dr. Joel S. Berke, political scien- tist and author D23 Sports Michael to succeed Lemon as Yankee manager in 1983 B11 Cashman's goal at 19:24 beats Rangers, 4-3 B11 Celtics top Nets, 109-100 B11 Berbick demands letter of credit before Ali fight B11 Indians get Sutcliffe from Dodg- ers in five-man deal B13 Ira Berkow on Dixie Walker's recollections B13 Rutgers stops St. John's, 74-67 B14 Jets lose Gaines to Chiefs on waiv- ers B14 Errico attorney charges perjury by Amy and asks new trial B15 Features/Notes Notes on People B4 Sports People B16 Going Out Guide C30 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A30 Qaddafi and a wet noodle Used-car rule, or overrule? At the court of King Edward Echoes of Watergate Letters A30 Anthony Lewis: dangerous nu- clear illusions A31 William Safire: the uses of pub- licity A31 John B. Oakes: tragicomedy - Act I A31 Noel Vietmeyer: animal power and the energy crisis A31

Yelizaveta Alekseyeva said today that a K.G.B. officer had told her that she would be given an exit visa and that, as a result, Andrei D. Sakharov had ended his hunger strike on her behalf on Tuesday. Miss Alekseyeva, who is the 26-year-old wife by proxy of Dr. Sakharov's stepson, Alexey Semyonov, has been seeking to join him in Newton, Mass. After her emigration requests were denied, his stepfather and mother began a protest fast late last month. Dr. Sakharov and his wife were reported Friday to have been hospitalized by the authorities, and there were indications that their fast was ended forcibly at that time. The K.G.B. official, Aleksandr V. Baranov, was quoted by Miss Alekseyeva as having said that Dr. Sakharov ended his fast in a hospital on learning that she would be given a visa. (In Washington, Mr. Semyonov said in an interview that he was cautiously hopeful that Miss Alekseyeva would be able to join him soon but said the lives of his mother and stepfather were ''still in peril.'' Page A16.)