What was going on when I was born?

President Reagan decided today to send Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. to London and Buenos Aires to sound out those two Governments on ways of avoiding a military clash over the Falkland Islands. The decision was made early this morning before Mr. Reagan left for Jamaica and the start of his vacation in the Caribbean. Mr. Haig had been scheduled to accompany Mr. Reagan, but instead Deputy Secretary Walter J. Stoessel Jr. will represent the State Department. The United States has avoided taking sides in the Falklands sovreignty dispute, hoping to create an atmosphere favorable to diplomatic efforts. France, West Germany, Belgium and Austria today banned all sales of arms and military equipment to Argentina in a show of political support for Britain. The Netherlands and Switzerland have already imposed similar sanctions. (Page A12.)

''We would much prefer a peaceful settlement. We will do all we can to get one.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today accused a Seattle accountant of using illegally obtained advance knowledge that the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation planned to buy the Santa Fe International Corporation. The complaint said that the accountant, Gary L. Martin, acting on the illegally obtained inside information, earned $1.1 million last September on an investment of only $54,000 in Santa Fe stock and options. Although the commission did not specifically identify the source of Mr. Martin's information, it did note in great detail that the defendant had performed accounting and other financial services for Stanley B. McDonald, an outside director of Sante Fe. Mr. McDonald was not named as a defendant. There were no similar references to other persons for whom Mr. Martin had performed services. At the request of the commission, Judge John C. Coughenour of United States District Court for the Western District of Washington immediately froze the $1.1 million that the agency said had been realized.

The recession is not over and there is no sign yet of any recovery, the Commerce Department's top economist said. The assessment, by Robert G. Dederick, was one of the most pessimistic so far by the Reagan Administration. He said the jobless rate would continue to rise and by the end of 1982 could exceed 9 percent. (Page D1.) International Japanese semiconductor makers are voluntarily curbing exports in response to American pressure, according to Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige. The action by the Japanese, still under study in Washington, comes as the department is deciding whether the U.S. semiconductor industry needs protection. (D1.)

Four former senior Government officials urged the United States and its European allies today to consider a pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in Europe. To compensate, they recommended the strengthening of the West's conventional forces on the continent. In a magazine article and a joint statement, the four contended that the buildup of nuclear arsenals, divisions in the Atlantic alliance and official contingency planning for fighting limited nuclear war now make it imperative for the Western powers to abandon their three-decade-old strategy of threatening to counter a conventional Soviet attack in Europe with nuclear weapons. ''Continuation of the present policy will add to the risk of nuclear war,'' said their joint statement, which was read to reporters by Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations.

Japanese semiconductor manufacturers, reacting to American pressure, have begun to voluntarily restrain exports of powerful memory chips that are the building blocks of computers, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said today. He was commenting on reports that the Japanese industry is attempting to shift about half of its production of the 64K randomaccess memory chips, considered the foundation of semiconductor technology, to its domestic market. The Japanese control about 70 percent of the world market in these chips, fingernail-sized wafers of silicon on which can be stored 64,000 bits of computer information. The action, which is still being studied here, came as the Commerce Department was deep in its own investigation of Japanese semiconductor shipments to determine whether the American industry, which has complained about unfair Japanese competition, should get some protection.

International Britain threatened to sink Argentine ships that came within 200 miles of the Falkland Islands after dawn on Monday. The announcement was made by the Defense Secretary, John Nott, at the end of a debate in the House of Commons on the seizure of the South Atlantic archipelago by Argentine troops Friday. The disclosure amounted to the imposition of a blockade around the islands. (Page A1,Column 6.) Seeking to avert a military clash in the Falkland Islands, President Reagan has instructed Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. to meet with senior officials in London and Buenos Aires. A State Department spokesman said that the purpose of the trip was to hold ''preliminary discussions'' in both capitals and to offer American assistance in resolving the dispute peacefully. (A1:4-5.)

Because of an editing error, an arti- cle yesterday on American nuclear weapons policy incorrectly described Robert S. McNamara. He retired in 1981 as president of the World Bank.

An article March 21 about an automobile spray painter who is suing Mercedes Benz of North America and other defendants, citing neurological injuries that he says resulted from paint fumes, incorrectly attributed a contention that the painter may have been ''malingering.'' The assertion, which appears in a court document filed by attorneys for Mercedes Benz, was made by a physician who examined the painter as part of preparation for his lawsuit.

New Jersey's Casino Control Commission ruled today that Playboy Enterprises was unsuitable to operate a casino in Atlantic City unless it severed ties with its founder and principal owner, Hugh M. Hefner. The commission gave Playboy until Tuesday to make its decision. Frank P. DiPrima, senior vice president and general counsel of the company, said he would appeal the commission's decision in court and seek a stay of any action to bar Playboy from Atlantic City until the appeal was decided. The commission's 3-to-2 vote to license Mr. Hefner and the company was one short of the four needed for a casino license. The vote followed a two-month hearing into assertions by the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement that Mr. Hefner and Playboy had been involved in bribery and other violations of the law.

The call comes differently to each man, a message surrounded by mystery. For Vincent Keane, it was a quiet voice that he finally decided to answer. For Michael Calvin, it was a persistent summons he could no longer resist. Neither can say why the herald came to them and not to others. It is, they are certain, a divine enigma, one of the Creator's bewildering gifts. With the approach of Easter and the Feast of the Resurrection, Mr. Keane and Mr. Calvin, Roman Catholics and candidates for the priesthood at the Immaculate Conception Seminary here, were asked to share their day of prayer and study with a visitor, and to reflect on the vicissitudes of entering the ministry.

Britain threatened tonight to sink any Argentine ship that came within 200 miles of the Falkland Islands after Monday morning. John Nott, the Defense Secretary, made the announcement at the end of a seven-hour debate in the House of Commons on the seizure of the South Atlantic archipelago by Argentine troops Friday. The disclosure, which amounted to the imposition of a blockade, curtailed the time available for efforts to find a peaceful solution. (Argentina announced early Thursday that it had created a 200-mile defense zone off its shores and around the Falkland Islands in response to the British threat. Earlier, the Argentines extended their civil rule over the islands in a ceremony at Stanley, the capital, in which Gen. Mario Benjamin Menendez was inducted as governor of the Falkland, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. Page A12.)