What was going on when I was born?

President Reagan, in a major rebuff to West European allies, refused today to ease his ban on the sale of United States oil and gas equipment to the Soviet Union and instead extended the sanctions to foreign companies producing such equipment under American licenses. A Presidential statement released by the White House this afternoon attributed the decision to Mr. Reagan's desire ''to advance reconciliation in Poland'' by continuing economic pressure on the Soviet Union and Poland. Since the imposition of martial law, the statement read, ''little has changed concerning the situation in Poland; there has been no movement that would enable us to undertake positive reciprocal measures.'' The pipeline sanctions were first imposed last Dec. 30 solely on American companies in response to the imposition of martial law in Poland in mid-December. Their practical effect was to bar the General Electric Company, the Caterpillar Tractor Company and other major United States companies from selling equipment for the construction of a 3,700-mile pipeline from Siberia to West Germany that eventually might supply Germany, France, Italy and Spain with more than 30 percent of their natural gas.

John Cheever, whose poised, elegant prose established him as one of America's finest storytellers, died yesterday at his home in Ossining, N.Y. He was 70 years old and had been afflicted with cancer for several months. Long regarded by critics as a kind of American Chekhov, Mr. Cheever possessed the ability to find spiritual resonance in the seemingly inconsequential events of daily life. In four novels, ''The Wapshot Chronicle,'' ''The Wapshot Scandal,'' ''Bullet Park'' and ''Falconer,'' and more than 100 short stories, he chronicled both the delights and dissonances of contemporary life with beauty and compassion. Awarded Pulitzer Prize It was an achievement recognized by a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Edward MacDowell Medal. Last April he also received the National Medal for Literature, in recognition of his ''distinguished and continuing contribution to American letters.''

Governor Carey and state legislative leaders have reached agreement on 98 new judgeships to help deal with increasing case backlogs in New York State, aides to the Governor said today. Under legislation submitted by Mr. Carey, the new positions would be filled by 52 elected judges, 34 appointed by the Governor and 12 appointed by the Mayor of New York City. At least 37 would sit in the city. The accord follows more than a year of disagreement between the Governor and the Legislature over whether new judges should be elected or appointed. It represents the first major increase in the number of judges in the state since 1973, according to the Office of Court Administration.

Gen. David C. Jones, retiring as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed skepticism today about the Reagan Administration's policy of preparing for protracted nuclear war. He said financing the policy could lead to unending military expenditures. ''If you try to do everything to fight a protracted nuclear war, then you end up with the potential of a bottomless pit,'' said the General, who is leaving the Army after 40 years of service. General Jones also told reporters that fighting a global war against the Soviet Union in several places simultaneously would take a much larger military force than the Administration has planned.

A jury of seven women and five men today began deliberating whether John W. Hinckley Jr. was guilty of trying to kill President Reagan and three other men or whether he was not guilty by reason of insanity. After hearing impassioned oratory from the opposing lawyers and being instructed on the law by the judge, the jurors were given the case just before 4 P.M. and then deliberated for about three and a half hours before being dismissed for the night. They went off to dinner and a local hotel. They will be sequestered until a verdict has been reached. ''The time has come for John Hinckley Jr. for the first time in his life to take responsibility for what he's done,'' asserted Roger M. Adelman, his voice rising to a shout, in the second day of closing arguments.

Philip C. Habib, the special American envoy to the Middle East, held a fourth day of talks with Lebanese political leaders today in an effort to find a political solution to the situation created by the Israeli invasion. The complex, and inconclusive, round of meetings around Beirut lasted until late into the night. Quiet on the Battlefront On the battlefront, it was the quietest day since the Israeli invasion began on June 6. (Israel, reacting to reports from Beirut of a brief artillery duel and a ground clash, said its guns were silent in Lebanon. Page 6.) The Palestinian guerrillas appeared to be using the respite to improve their defenses, erecting dirt ramparts around their refugee camps and laying mines around the perimeters.

In a decisive show of support for the civil rights movement, the Senate today adopted a bill extending a critical section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for 25 years. The legislation would also reverse recent Supreme Court decisions and make it easier for minority voters to prove racial discrimination. The vote on the measure, which has already passed the House in similar form, was 85 to 8. House leaders have said they would accept the Senate bill and send it directly to President Reagan.

Argentina said today that a ''total cessation of hostilities'' with the British would be reached only when Britain withdrew its forces from the Falkland Islands, lifted its blockade of the Argentine coast and ended its economic sanctions. Responding to British demands for a formal pledge to end all hostilities, the Government said in a note to the United Nations that all Argentine forces were currently observing a cease-fire. But it said the truce would be ''precarious'' as long as Britain maintained its occupation of the islands, its blockade and its sanctions. However, in what Foreign Ministry officials here described as an indication that Argentina would foresake military operations for the immediate future, the note asked for the renewal of United Nations negotiations ''for a definitive solution to the dispute.''

The Soviet press agency Tass said today that President Reagan's speech to the United Nations disarmament session was a disappointment to a majority of the delegates, who, it said, had hoped Mr. Reagan would respond to a Soviet pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko announced the pledge in an address Tuesday.

The economic consequences of France's devaluation of the franc last weekend and the announcement of the first of what may or may not be a series of stringent anti-inflationary measures have yet to be seen. ''The Last Chance,'' was the headline in Les Echos, a financial paper not notably sympathetic to the Government. Le Monde, which tries to be as sympathetic as it can, concluded, ''The franc is not saved; merely reprieved.'' Already, however, the reactions suggest that President Francois Mitterrand has suffered his first serious political setback since he took office a year ago. It was not simply that a policy that told the French that they could have economic growth, redistribution of income and social change in the midst of a recession-bound Europe has come unstuck.

Four Czechoslovak human rights activists went on trial today in Chomutov in northern Bohemia on charges of disturbing public order, according to emigre sources. The defendants, who face jail terms of up to two years, were arrested after the police searched their homes and found copies of an underground magazine, according to the emigres. The sources said several witnesses were scheduled to be heard during the trial, which was expected to last two weeks.

Western governments are becoming concerned that Pope John Paul II might agree to visit his native Poland this summer without obtaining what they consider an adequate relaxation in the country's martial law in return, according to diplomatic sources here and in Western Europe. These diplomats say that without such a relaxation a papal visit could have the effect of implying some acceptance of conditions in Poland and making it harder for the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to justify continuing the economic sanctions they imposed after martial law was declared last December. The Pope last year announced his intention of visiting his homeland this August to participate in ceremonies marking the 600th anniversary of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, Poland's most sacred icon and a national symbol. But the trip was thrown into doubt after martial law was declared and thousands of members of Solidarity, the suspended independent trade union, were placed in detention.