What was going on when I was born?

The importance of tobacco in America's past is unchallenged. For example, Benjamin Franklin used it as collateral for French loans to help underwrite the Revolutionary War. But what is being called into question is its importance, if any, in the nation's future. It is an emotional issue here in the largest tobacco-producing state, where at this time of year trucks, piled high with the pungent yellow leaves, are everywhere bound for auction. Many of the people whose livelihoods are tied to the commodity, including 300,000 in North Carolina, and 2 million in the whole nation, feel betrayed by a Congress that last month voted to double the Federal tax on a pack of cigarettes to 16 cents. Especially traitorous behavior is ascribed to North Carolina's Senators, Republicans Jesse Helms and John P. East, who are accused of switching their votes and giving the day to supporters of the tax increase.

Politicians typically say foreign policy does not swing Congressional elections nationwide, and this year is no exception. But there are about a dozen races for the House of Representatives and at least one for the Senate where such issues as a freeze on nuclear weapons and rising military spending could tip the balance. Moreover, three Republican Representatives, including Robert H. Michel, the House minority leader, have been put on the defensive in central Illinois because of the job losses caused by another foreign policy issue - President Reagan's embargo on the sale of American equipment for the Soviet natural gas pipeline to Western Europe. And the President's new Middle East peace proposal could develop into a touchy campaign issue for Republican incumbents in a few heavily Jewish districts if it causes sustained tensions with Israel.

The Israeli Government, ignoring President Reagan's call for a freeze on Jewish settlements, allocated $18.5 million today to build three new settlements in the occupied West Bank and announced approval to build seven others. The action coincided with the disclosure of the text of a firm letter of protest from Prime Minister Menachem Begin to President Reagan. The Israeli leader Text of Begin letter is on page 4. warned that the American proposals for the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip would lead to a Palestinian state and ''a Soviet base in the heart of the Middle East.''

China's Communist Party is undertaking a major reformation to erase the radical legacy of Mao Zedong and improve the caliber of its vast membership. The most dramatic change, announced today, is the abolition of the post of party chairman, a post that became synonymous with Mao. The party will be headed by a general secretary, as in the Soviet Union. The party leadership also plans to examine anew the qualifications of its nearly 40 million members to expel leftists who have resisted changes and to weed out others who are corrupt or incompetent.

As the New York metropolitan area's colleges open amid extraordinary last-minute confusion over financial aid, more and more students are abandoning plans to go away to private colleges and are turning to low-cost public colleges close to home, according to admissions officers and students. Some public colleges have been flooded with late applications from students who suddenly found they could not afford to attend their first-choice private colleges. And some private colleges are still soliciting applications long after the spring deadline to try to keep their enrollments at last year's levels. Officials at 41 colleges surveyed in the metropolitan area said the financial aid picture was especially chaotic this year because Congressional debate over rules for student loans and grants had delayed $580 million in Federal aid to colleges. As a result, many students had to register and pay fees last week without receiving Federal grants, and were still waiting to hear about loans.

Eight Israeli soldiers were apparently captured Saturday at an observation post north of Bhamdun, Lebanon, the military command announced today. The command issued a statement tonight calling the incident, which it said occurred east of Beirut, a ''most serious violation of the cease-fire'' and demanding the release of the eight soldiers.

Normally, summer ends in France with a thud, the noise of millions of car doors and trunks slamming shut, as synchronized an element of public behavior as the French manage to produce. It is as if there were 50 million people sitting on a dock on a bay watching the sun set, then rushing for the parking lot. Institutionalized as a holiday month, August was also mythologized in the years of postwar French prosperity as a month without care, a time when the newspapers stuck to serializing spy novels and printing recipes heavy on olives and eggplant. August seemed to have marvelous immutable qualities, deep tropisms, too much a part of national life ever to change. It began with les grands departs on the last weekend in July and ended with la rentree on Sept. 1. This year, the marvelous, eternal order of things did not quite hold. August behaved badly. First, there was the terrible road accident at the beginning of the month that killed 44 children, then the terrorist shootings and bombings, including six more blasts in Corsica at the weekend, and the continual counterpoint of bad economic news.

Demonstrators marching in Dusseldorf carried a sign showing a nun smashing a nuclear bomb. The rally, which called for disarmament by Eastern and Western powers, coincided with the closing of a Roman Catholic conference and was organized by ''The Underground Church,'' a dissenting group.

Washington has moved to defuse a 10-week-old dispute with the local landowners on Kwajalein atoll, the site of a billion-dollar United States testing range for intercontinental ballistic missiles. The atoll is in the Marshall Islands, 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Beginning June 19, nearly 1,000 owners of the areas used by the United States military for the missile range moved back onto their property, leased to the Department of Defense for many years. They are protesting against rental terms and are raising other grievances that had accumulated since American forces took Kwajalein from the Japanese early in 1944.

The Government of Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini today created a post of high commissioner for the fight against organized crime. Meeting in emergency session, the Cabinet named to the position the head of a secret police agency attached to the Prime Minister's office. The official, Emanuele de Francesco, was simultaneously appointed successor to Gen. Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa as prefect, or regional governor, of Palermo. General Dalla Chiesa and his wife were murdered in the center of Palermo Friday night. Two cars and a racing motorcycle ambushed the small private car that Mrs. Dalla Chiesa was driving and opened a barrage of automatic fire. Mr. Spadolini had sent the general, who had gained a considerable reputation for his success in leading the battle against political terrorism, to Palermo last May with the special mission of combating the Mafia.

Turks stayed at home today on orders from the Government to be registered for a referendum on the draft constitution due to be held before the end of the year. Some 500,000 officials took part in the countrywide count to register eligible voters over the age of 21. Officials said about 21 million people were expected to be registered.

Two men on a motorcycle fired shots at the home of a High Court judge here today, killing a policeman on guard duty, authoritative sources said. The judge, Saeedur Rahman, was asleep when the two men attacked the house at about 4 A.M., the sources added. The attack appeared to be part of a campaign of violence against supporters of the military Government of President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, they said.