What was going on when I was born?

The House of Representatives voted tonight to cite Anne M. Gorsuch, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, for contempt of Congress. A Cabinet-level official has never before faced such a charge. The contempt citation followed Mrs. Gorsuch's refusal, at the direction of President Reagan, to turn over to a House committee subpoenaed documents about her agency's efforts to enforce a law requiring the cleanup of hazardous waste dumps. In another development involving the environment agency today, an affidavit was made public charging the assistant administrator with trying to have a ''whistle blower'' dismissed. (Page A25.)

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company told its 3 million shareholders today how it will distribute stock in the local telephone companies that it will divest by Jan.1, 1984. In a filing with the United States District Court, A.T.& T. said it would distribute one new share in each of seven regional phone companies for every 10 shares of A.T.& T. stock now held. Under an agreement with the Justice Department, the company must divest itself of its 22 local telephone companies, which account for 80 percent of all local phone operations, by Jan.1, 1984. 7 Large Regional Companies These local companies will be grouped in the seven regional operations - each a huge corporation in its own right. No analyst was willing to speculate today at what level the new stock would trade or what might happen to the price of A.T.& T. stock, once the divestiture was completed. That stock fell 62 1/2 cents today, to close at $59.875 on the New York Stock Exchange.

''The worst fears about Abscam, the chilling vision of an executive branch conspiracy against the legislature, with overtones of manipulation and cover-up, have proved to be evanescent.

The subject at an all-day conference yesterday was the long-range future of public transit in New York, but the present kept intruding. One official left suddenly because of a bomb scare on the IND in Brooklyn, and another hurried out saying he was on his way to Albany or Washington - he wasn't sure which - to lobby for transit aid. The question on practically everyone's mind was whether the 75-cent fare would soon have to rise to meet current deficits. But the topics on the table concerned the subway system of the future: Should stations be closed? Should lines be added? Should tokens be replaced by computer cards? Can one person operate a train instead of two? Should the Metropolitan Transportation Authority be abolished? 'Long-Term Vision Is Necessary' ''The day-to-day pressures tend to preoccupy us,'' said John D. Simpson, president of the city's Transit Authority and one of the 400 participants at the conference. ''But long-term vision is necessary.''

Two film events begin today. The uncut, 208-minute version of Akira Kurosawa's ''Seven Samurai,'' with Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, opens at Cinema Studio 1, Broadway, near 66th Street, in its first New York run. The Japanese classic, about a warrior band that protects a farm village from marauders, was released in the United States in 1955 in a 158-minute version. Admission: $5. Information: 874-8989. And, the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53d Street, opens a series of films produced or directed by Alan J. Pakula, starting with his first, ''Fear Strikes Out'' (1957), at 2:30 P.M. and ''Klute'' (1971), introduced by Mr. Pakula, at 6. Free with museum admission: $3 ($1 for children and the elderly; pay what you wish on Tuesdays). ART IN CHILDREN'S BOOKS To celebrate children's book illustration as a fine art, the Master Eagle Gallery, 40 West 25th Street, has opened a free exhibition of original art from books published this year. On view are 200 works - pen and ink, watercolor, oils, acrylic, gouache and pencil - by more than 150 artists, including Edward Gorey and William Steig. The subjects range from fantasy to technology: penguins on ice skates to a cross section of a barge. You can also learn how pop-up books are made. Open Monday through Friday, 9:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.

ALEXANDRA JOHNSON REX, 7 years old and tartan smart, tapped her patent leather toe impatiently against the glass of the Lever House window, her ponytail jiggling a fandango in the afternoon thaw. ''Now Lex,'' said her mother, ''You said you liked Christmas windows.'' ''Well, I do,'' she said, looking at the lopsided carousel. ''But let's go to Saks. They're doing Teddy Roosevelt there.'' Given the advanced state of the art of window display, not to mention the generally high visual threshold of a country that eats ''Star Wars'' for breakfast, it should come as no surprise that even children are becoming more demanding today when it comes to having their sugar-plum fantasies satisfied. Fortunately, there are at least 40 stores in town whose windows go a long way toward ushering in the holidays with the appropriate Christmas spirit.

Polish authorities today detained Lech Walesa, leader of the outlawed Solidarity union, preventing him from giving a speech at the shipyard workers' monument here. He was returned to his apartment in the evening, his wife, Danuta, told reporters by telephone. She said he was not yet ready to speak. There had been no official word throughout the day of his whereabouts or his status. The Government declined to say whether he had been arrested, interned, or, as appears to be the case, simply seized and held somewhere to keep him silent.

The six largest banks and saving institutions here began a retreat today from offering customers promotional interest rates of 21 percent to 25 percent on money market savings accounts. By midday, they had imposed limits on the size of new deposits - in one case reducing the maximum deposit to $25,000 from $250,000 - or had reduced the maximum interest rate on new deposits to 10 percent. The promotional rates, they said, had resulted in an overwhelming number of new accounts since they were first offered on Tuesday. Smaller banks in Atlanta continued to offer promotional rates of 21 per- Assets of the money market funds fell a record $4.73 billion in the week ended Wednesday. Page D9. cent to 25 percent on the new accounts. The deposits these banks attracted in the past few days were only a fraction of those received at the major banks.

The recovery in the housing industry surged ahead in November as construction starts rose to an annual rate of 1.43 million units, the highest in nearly two years, the Government reported today. Permits for future construction also rose, the Government reported, indicating the current gains would not fizzle out in a month or two. Jubilant spokesmen for builders and mortgage lenders credited rising construction and sales to the declining interest rates of the past few months.

The threat posed to the world financial system by extensive third world borrowing is essentially confined to a few large developing countries, and international banks can continue to grant loans to other developing nations without adding unduly to their risks, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports. Its view is contained in a study of the developing world's external debt to be published Friday. The study says Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, all of which have effectively declared themselves insolvent and have sought aid from the International Monetary Fund, are the main problems because they carry a heavy burden of floating-rate debt, which becomes prohibitively expensive when interest rates rise.

The Civil Aeronautics Board today voted, 4 to 1, to deregulate the travel-agent industry, making it possible for anyone to seek an airline's consent to sell its tickets. The order, which is expected to be issued next week and to be effective then, opens the way for competition for the nation's 20,000 travel agents. The board, however, did provide for a two-year transition, during which certain facets of the current 40-year-old system would continue. Executives in the airline and travel industries and at the C.A.B. predicted no quick change. Now, only agents accredited by the Air Traffic Conference of America, a trade group, may sell tickets to the public.

The State Senate tonight voted to override Governor Kean's veto of a bill requiring a daily one-minute period of silence in New Jersey public schools. The 27-to-8 vote - the 27 votes were the minimum necessary to override the veto - followed a 57-to-17 vote on Monday in the Assembly, where 54 votes were needed. It was the first overriding of a veto by Governor Kean since he took office last January. During 45 minutes of emotional debate, the Senate President, Carmen A. Orechio, said Mr. Kean had acted ''on poor advice'' when he vetoed the bill.