What was going on when I was born?

The White House counsel has been ordered to examine contacts between senior aides of President Reagan and the Environmental Protection Agency for any evidence of political manipulation, White House officials said today. With the agency's administrator out of town, the White House itself also replaced three high officials of the agency. One had been discharged by the White House and two others were forced to resign. Deputy White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes said the three replacements, plus the appointment of two other new top officials, had been undertaken to give the agency a ''fresh new start'' and ''to improve the management capacity'' of the agency.

Mexico today announced completion of negotiations with about 530 Western banks on the largest commercial loan in history - a $5 billion ''jumbo'' credit that should be ready for signing in New York late next week. In a statement, Mexico's Finance Ministry also disclosed that a 13-bank Advisory Committee, which represents Mexico's creditors, will disburse a ''bridge'' loan Friday of about $433 million to be repaid when the first $1.7 billion portion of the main credit is made available in mid-March. The ''jumbo'' loan is part of a major rescue package for Mexico worked out last December with the International Monetary Fund following the country's worst financial crisis in 40 years. But the timing of the credit also should soften the blow of a reduction in Mexico's oil export price, expected to be announced this weekend.

The Defense Department has concluded that Soviet warheads could disable the land-based command posts that are intended to serve as the Government's nerve center in a nuclear war. As a result it has begun a major effort to develop mobile communication and control facilities. But a network of substitute command centers able to survive a nuclear attack will not be in full operation until the late 1980's, according to senior Defense Department officials. The emphasis on mobile facilities, which evolved in recent years and is now a key part of the Reagan Administration's military policy, represents a significant shift in strategic planning, the officials say.

A Congressional commission concluded today that the relocation and internment of 120,000 Japanese-American citizens and resident aliens in World War II was a ''grave injustice.'' It said the move was motivated by ''racial prejudice, war hysteria and failure of political leadership,'' and not by military considerations. ''The record does not permit the conclusion that military necessity war- Excerpts from report, page A12. ranted the exclusion of ethnic Japanese from the West Coast,'' the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians said in a 467-page report released today.

''A grave injustice was done to American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or any probative evidence against them, were excluded, removed and detained by the United States during World War II.'' - Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. (A12:6.)

Former Gov. Hugh L. Carey said yesterday that he would not march in this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade because a supporter of the outlawed Irish Republican Army had been selected to lead it. ''I will miss the parade as a marcher,'' Mr. Carey said in a telephone interview. ''I don't think the parade should be led by anyone sympathetic to an organization that stands for terrorism.'' This month, Michael Flannery, an 81-year-old retired insurance supervisor from Queens, was elected grand marshal of the parade by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a Roman Catholic lay association that has traditionally been in charge of the annual March 17 event. Mr. Flannery, an outspoken supporter of the I.R.A., has said the event would be a demonstration of support for the I.R.A. A statement issued yesterday by Terrence Cardinal Cooke said, ''The one course of action which we cannot follow is to support - in any way, even by signs and symbols - the continuation of senseless, indiscriminate violence as a means to achieve political effects.''

The Chrysler Corporation reported today that its fourth-quarter loss had widened to $96.1 million, from $67 million a year earlier, chiefly because of a strike at its Canadian subsidiary. For the full year, the auto company reported its first profit since 1977 -$170.1 million, or $1.84 a share, against a loss of $476 million a year earlier. But the profit was largely the result of the sale of the Chrysler Defense subsidiary to the General Dynamics Corporation for $239 million and tax credits of $66.9 million.

FROM Itzhak Perlman and Barbara Cook to the Nikolais Dance Theater - the range and quality of some of this weekend's offerings beyond Manhattan but still within the city limits reflect the growing importance of college-based arts centers in New York's outer boroughs. Led by the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, the Colden Center in Queens and the three-year-old Lehman College Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx, they are drawing not only performers but also audiences from Manhattan, while widening their programs to serve new and changing audiences close to home. ''We are coming to a point now where we can compete with almost any presenting venue in the city,'' said Dolph Timmerman, marketing director of the Colden Center, of his concert series. ''We are now asking ourselves: what else can we do?'' Because the centers are on campuses, they have an added educational dimension. ''We serve a dual function,'' said Dan Swartz, general manager of the Brooklyn Center at Brooklyn College. ''We are meeting the needs of students in their performances as well as the needs of spectators.''

In a stunning move, the Socialist Government today formally took over Rumasa, Spain's largest private financial enterprise. The Government justified its decision by saying that improper and possibly fraudulent practices by Rumasa had posed a threat to the economy. It announced its plans late Wednesday night after a long Cabinet meeting. At a crowded news conference today, Miguel Boyer, the Minister of Economy and Finance, outlined a series of irregularities attributed to Rumasa, including overvaluation of assets, unpaid taxes and obstruction of outside audits.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz opened a public campaign today to win support for billions in foreign aid in the face of what he has been told is widespread opposition because of economic trouble at home. Speaking in Atlanta, Mr. Shultz said that ''the cost is modest'' for foreign aid and that it is necessary ''to secure peace and economic well-being in regions vital to our security.'' To make his point about low cost, Mr. Shultz introduced statistics to show, among other things, that Americans pay more for television and radio sets in a given year than they do for military and economic assistance.

Brazilian officials asked the United States for additional credits of up to $400 million yesterday but were unable to win a commitment. The Secretary of the Treasury, Donald T. Regan, said no decision would be made until the Brazilians met with commercial banks in New York today, according to a spokesman. The Treasury is coming under pressure not only from Brazil, but also from large American banks, which have been struggling to stop others around the world from withdrawing their deposits from Brazilian banks. Denying reports by bankers in New York that the Treasury had agreed to the loan, Ann D. McLaughlin, the Treasury Department's Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said that though the United States stood behind Brazil, it wanted that country to do as much on its own as possible. ''We're alert, we're in a standby position, we hope additional loans by the United States Government will not be needed,'' she said. The Treasury made a $1.2 billion emergency loan to Brazil late last year.

International President Reagan was rebuffed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over his nomination of Kenneth L. Adelman to be the nation's chief arms control official. But the panel refused to block the nomination entirely and sent it to the Senate floor with an unfavorable recommendation, setting the stage for a filibuster and for a debate over the wider issue of arms control. (Page A1, Column 4.) A drive on behalf of foreign aid was begun by Secretary of State George P. Shultz in the face of widespread opposition to Americans' helping other countries when there is economic trouble at home. Speaking in Atlanta, Mr. Shultz stressed that the billions of dollars sought for foreign aid were modest in comparision with other current expenses. (A1:6.)