What was going on when I was born?

President Reagan appealed to Americans today to leave Libya immediately and invalidated American passports for travel to that country. But he stopped short of embargoing Libyan oil, seeking additional sanctions against the Libyan Government or telling the estimated 1,500 Americans in Libya that they must return home. A senior Administration official said Mr. Reagan was still considering a series of ''political, diplomatic, eco- Text of U.S. statement, page A12. nomic and other measures'' aimed at ending the ''current lawless behavior'' of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader. He said that it was ''obvious to all'' that an embargo on oil imports had been ''discussed,'' but that no new steps were imminent.

A long-awaited draft of a House telecommunications bill was made public today and, as expected, it was tougher on the American Telephone and Telegraph Company than a counterpart bill already passed by the Senate. The 120-page draft developed by Timothy E. Wirth, chairman of the of the House subcommittee on telecommunications, includes these differences from the bill already passed by the Senate in these important respects: - A.T.& T. would be required to purchase 30 percent of its equipment from outside suppliers for an indefinite period. The Senate bill also has a 30 percent requirement, but for a limited period of time. A.T.& T. now is required to purchase 15 percent of its equipment from outside suppliers. It opposed the higher percentage in the Senate bill.

In a unanimous vote last night, the Board of Estimate made its preliminary selection of six companies for cable television franchise awards in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The board's decision, which came after nearly eight hours of polite but often pointed testimony, authorizes the city to begin contract negotiations with the six companies. The choices will not be final until the contracts are awarded next spring, but, barring any dropouts or unexpected turns in the contract talks, the actual franchises are likely to go to five of the six companies that were chosen yesterday. In their vote, members of the eight-member board approved, with some modifications, the recent recommendations of its own cable committee - the Cable Television Working Group - on which of the 13 competing cable companies should be considered for franchises in the four boroughs. Board officials reiterated that the agreements would be used as models to update service in Manhattan, which has had cable television for a decade. The six ''targeted'' companies, all among the nation's larget cable companies or affiliated with one of the largest, are the following: - Queens: Warner Amex Cable Communications Inc., Queens Inner Unity Cable Systems and American Cablevision of Queens, a subsidiary of the American Television and Communications Corporation.

A gallant troupe of jugglers, acrobats, clowns and musicians, along with a 4,000-pound baby elephant, offered their talents like holiday gifts last night to children from 11 social agencies and in foster care, many in wheelchairs. In the best the-show-must-go-on tradition, 30 members of the Big Apple Circus cast performed under their blue and orange big top at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, entertaining 1,000 guests and members of the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York. Except for a few tears backstage, there was little to betray the shock of an early-morning fire that had swept the nearby animal tent and a trailer, killing a dancing horse named Dabo and a pony named Kelso. Three children - one of them Wlasticek Bertini, an 8-year-old unicyclist who later ''went on'' in his family's act - were sleeping in other trailers along with nine adult performers and crew members. They were not injured.

The Mobil Corporation has built a reputation as the bulldog of the oil industry, plunging headlong into fights that other companies would prefer to avoid. The latest evidence supporting this reputation is its stated intent to buy as much as a quarter of the stock of the United States Steel Corporation, now that the steelmaker seems on the verge of taking over the Marathon Oil Company. Politicians and consumer groups see Mobil's aggressiveness as yet another example of Big Oil's arrogance. Some economists question the efficiency of deploying such enormous amounts of capital for such a takeover. Even other oil companies confess to some embarrassment over the Marathon affair. But the flak does not appear to disturb Mobil.

President Reagan received sharply conflicting advice at a meeting with his panel of outside economic advisers today as the White House struggled to erase the impression that Mr. Reagan's economic recovery program had been crippled by economic stagnation and internal discord. The meeting of the Economic Policy Advisory Board was described by a White House official as ''contentious'' and unproductive because of the dispute that broke out between the supply-side advocates and the traditional conservatives who serve on the 12-member board. The two groups presented Mr. Reagan with equally unpleasant alternatives that in each case would require him to break earlier promises about avoiding both tax increases and record levels of deficit spending, according to participants in the meeting and White House aides. These officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified by name, said that the supply-side advocates - Prof. Arthur B. Laffer, an economist at the University of Southern California, and Representative Jack Kemp, Republican of upstate New York - urged Mr. Reagan to stick with his program of income tax cuts and spending reductions and not to worry about the soaring deficit.

Bulgaria is not just a Soviet look- alike A2 Sakharov reported ''in no dan- ger'' after fast A3 Soviet Union assails Catholic Church in Poland A4 Around the World A6 Costa Ricans face a test of democ- racy A7 In Denmark, the Soviet Fork-and- Knife caper runs into trouble A11 Restrictions on Libyan travel will be hard for U.S. to enforce A12 Government/Politics Senate panel votes to veto F.T.C.'s proposed used car rule A17 Senate opponents block final ac- tion on busing bill A19 Bush aide gets No. 2 post at G.O.P. National Committee A20 State legislators praise President Reagan's budget policies A23 Court records contradict state- ments by Rep. Richmond B1 City tentatively picks six appli- cants for cable TV franchises B1 Margiotta meets with G.O.P. leaders in L.I. headquarters B2 Council defeats plan to resurrect bill on homosexuals B3 Washington Talk Briefing A30 Volcker's steadfastness is his strength at the Fed A30 Surveillance antennas sprout atop Soviet Embassy A30 Energy Con Ed to be fined $40,000 on radiation exposure charges A27 The Central Complaint Bureau, cold weather means more calls B3 General Around the Nation A16 Arkansas hopes to prove creation as scientific as evolution A25 Grading error prompts review of Vermont bar exam system A26 Weekend Weekender Guide C1 Fifth Avenue becomes a holiday mall C22 L.I. home of American artist open for holidays C36 Theater: Broadway C2 ''Grown Ups,'' a Feiffer play C3 Raquel Welch in ''Woman of the Year'' C3 Dance: Sugarplums in the holi- day dance stocking C1 Screen: ''Four Friends'' opens C12 At the Movies C14 Music: Medieval pageant at St. John the Divine C4 Motown Revue at Palladium C7 ''Heavenly Jazz'' offers two clarinetists C7 Art: Neglected painter gets his due at last C1 German art all over town C26 Auctions C30 Books: Publishing C32 ''Mixed Company'' by Helen Rogan reviewed C33 Restaurants C24 TV Weekend C35 Style The evening hours D18 The glittery world of two jewelers and two parties to match D18 A bargain night with Dickens D18 Obituaries John Kieran, sports columnist and naturalist D19 Jerry Wurf, municipal labor leader D19 Sylvia Marlowe, harpsichordist D19 Sports Martin, back as Giants starter, focuses on Cardinals B4 Knicks beat Pistons in overtime B5 Ali-Berbick seems set for tonight B5 Two team owners critical of Kuhn gain top owners' posts B5 McEnroe vs. Vilas to open final in Davis Cup today B5 Guidry's lawyer meets with Stein- brenner B6 Dave Anderson on Ali's mystery promoter B7 A28 Features/Notes Notes on People A29 Sports People B4 News Analysis Linda Greenhouse on scope of Su- preme Court Justices' roles A1 John F. Burns assesses Sakha- rov's hunger strike A3 Adam Clymer on risk of acknowl- edging looming deficits A22 Douglas Martin discusses Mobil's strategy D1 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A34 Raiders of the lost stock market Stones in the Aegean Guilty boss, vindicated system Robert Curvin: welfare babies Letters A34 Tom Wicker: Mr. Reagan's mir- rors A35 Flora Lewis: singing, and roar- ing, in the rain A35 Selig S. Harrison: tensions in South Asia A35 Dorothea S. Greenbaum: elderly, then old A35

International A plea to Americans to leave Libya at once was issued by President Reagan, who also ordered the invalidation of American passports for travel to Libya. A senior Administration official said there were no immediate plans to halt Libyan oil imports or to impose additional sanctions against the Tripoli regime for what the White House terms its ''current lawless behavior.'' (Page A1, Column 6.) A departure of American technicians, who discovered oil in Libya in 1955 and have been the dominant force in increasing production, will cause serious problems for the industry, Tripoli's oil minister acknowledged. Industry analysts suggested that the withdrawal could prompt Libya to nationalize American oil holdings. (A1:5.)

An item in the News of Music col- umn yesterday, on the winter sym- posium to be offered by the Conductors Guild of the American Symphony Or- chestra League, omitted the location. The symposium will be held Jan. 8 to 10 at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York.

A dispute developed today among former Nixon Administration officials over assertions in a book by John D. Ehrlichman that Chief Justice Warren E. Burger had ''openly discussed the pros and cons of issues before the Court'' with President Nixon. That assertion is contained in the galley proofs of Mr. Ehrlichman's memoirs, ''Witness to Power.'' Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell denied the assertion that Chief Justice Burger had discussed Court issues with him, Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ehrlichman. ''I've talked to President Nixon and he confirms that he, too, has no recollection of such discussions,'' Mr. Mitchell said. Nixon and Burger Silent Neither Mr. Nixon nor Chief Justice Burger had any comment, their spokesmen said. ''It is the general practice of the Justices not to respond to allegations, especially when they involve a former litigant before this court,'' said Barrett McGurn, the Court spokesman. And Nicholas Ruwe, an aide in Mr. Nixon's New York office, said that he had spoken to the former President and that Mr. Nixon had said he would have no comment on the book.

Court records show that two employees of a public corporation founded and controlled by Representative Frederick W. Richmond of Brooklyn acknowleged arranging annual political fund-raising events on his behalf during their regular working day on company time. The sworn statements of the employees were made during a civil trial in Federal Court in St. Louis last year. The statements contradict assertions by Mr. Richmond, a Democrat in his fourth term, and his campaign committee chairman that employees of the company, Walco National Corporation of New York, assisted him ''on their own time.'' Under Federal law, corporations are prohibited from contributing money or manpower directly to a political campaign.

The assertion that Chief Justice Warren E. Burger discussed ''issues before the Court'' with President Nixon illustrates a dilemma that faces Supreme Court Justices any time they venture beyond the Court's marbled cloister. In his memoirs, John D. Ehrlichman describes a 1970 breakfast meeting at which he, President Nixon and Attorney General John N. Mitchell ''openly discussed'' school integration and busing. But his account is so sketchy as to make it impossible to assess the propriety of the Chief Justice's reported role. On the one hand, Justices and Presidents have dined and consulted together in the past without ethical questions being raised. On the other hand, any judge who discusses a pending case privately with one of the parties involved would be violating judicial ethics.