What was going on when I was born?

Democrats working on a 1984 platform found that papering over differences may not be easy. Page B9. WASHINGTON, April 9 - Vice President Bush, wading into the 1984 political campaign, went before a Jewish organization today and harshly criticized the three candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination as failing to issue strenuous condemnations of anti-Semitism. ''Whom the Democrats pick is their business,'' said Mr. Bush, speaking before the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group. ''But some matters transcend party and concern the basic traditions of our republic.''

Citing the ''time-consuming distraction'' of an investigation being conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Peter N. Brant submitted his resignation yesterday to Kidder, Peabody & Company. Mr. Brant, a 31-year-old vice president said to be the brokerage firm's top salesman, has been a key figure in the S.E.C.'s investigation into the possible improper use of market- sensitive information before its publication in The Wall Street Journal's ''Heard on the Street'' column. Two weeks ago, The Journal reported that it had dismissed R. Foster Winans, one of the column's two chief authors. The newspaper said he had admitted to the S.E.C. that he periodically made information available to outsiders before publication.

Renovation plans for Shea Stadium, including the installation of artificial turf, additional stands in center field and luxury boxes, will be announced today by Mayor Koch. The Mayor did not give specifics in advance of his official announcement, but two nongovernmental sources close to the negotiations described the details of the remodeling, which both said would cost $45 million to $50 million. A city official, however, said that the projected cost was less than the $43 million the city offered last fall to make improvements in an unsuccessful attempt to deter the Jets from moving to New Jersey.

Federal authorities charged 31 men yesterday with operating an organized- crime ring that has brought $1.65 billion worth of heroin into the United States since 1979. ''It is the most significant case involving heroin trafficking by traditional organized crime that has ever been developed by the Government,'' Attorney General William French Smith said at a news conference at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. ''We estimate that the ring has imported at least 330 pounds of heroin a year for the past five years,'' Mr. Smith said. A key part of the heroin ring was described as ''the Catalano faction of the Bonanno family of La Cosa Nostra'' in New York City. The leader of the faction was identified as 43-year-old Salvatore Catalano of Queens, who was accused of being a major heroin distributor.

The Soviet Olympic Committee charged today that an anti-Soviet campaign was taking shape for the Games in Los Angeles this summer and asked for an emergency session of the International Olympic Committee to look into security and to demand American adherence to the Olympic charter. In a statement issued by Tass, the official Soviet press agency, the Soviet Olympic Committee did not directly threaten a boycott of the Games by its athletes. But it noted that the time was drawing ever nearer for the Olympic committees of the various nations to make a decision on participation. The deadline for registering is June 2.

Nicaragua asked the World Court to declare illegal United States support for guerrilla raids on its territory and what it said was Washington's role in the mining of its harbors. The State Department said it had pre-empted the complaint filed in The Hague by filing papers Friday to deprive the tribunal of jurisdiction to consider the matter for at least two years. (Page A1, Column 6.) The House will not approve the Reagan Administration's request for $21 million in new aid for Nicaraguan rebels, the Speaker of the House, Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., said. He and Representative Jim Wright, the majority leader, said reports of the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in the mining of Nicaraguan harbors had killed any chance that the measure would be approved. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill last week. (A1:5.)

Nicaragua asked the World Court today to declare illegal United States support for guerrilla raids on its territory and what it said was Washington's role in the mining of Nicaraguan harbors. In a statement made public by its embassy here today, Nicaragua said that its suit ''asserts that the U.S. Government is training, supplying and directing military and paramilitary actions against the people and Government of Nicaragua, resulting in extensive loss of lives and property,'' in an effort ''to overthrow or destabilize the Government of Nicaragua.'' The Reagan Administration says Nicaragua is trying to overthrow the Salvadoran Government and that the mining of Nicaraguan harbors is therefore justified as a form of self-defense for El Salvador and its allies. It has said that it is supporting anti-Government insurgents in Nicaragua to stop arms it says Nicaragua is sending to Salvadoran guerrillas.

The Marsh & McLennan Companies, a diversified insurance brokerage holding company, said yesterday in a terse statement that it would take an extraordinary after-tax charge of approximately $60 million for the first quarter of 1984 to reflect expected losses in Government bond positions accumulated by a staff trader. ''It appears that one trader acted unilaterally and in violation of strict Marsh & McLennan Companies policies,'' the company said, citing preliminary results of an internal examination begun over the weekend. The company added that the trader, who was not named, had been suspended, but it declined to provide any further details. John M. Regan Jr., chairman of Marsh & McLennan, said the extraordinary charge ''will not materially affect Marsh & McLennan's underlying financial health and strength.''

A chart in Metropolitan Report yesterday on goals proposed by a citizens' commission for upgrading city services erroneously labeled the middle column. The data in that column were for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1983.

CHILDREN who are very young when their parents divorce fare better psychologically than their older brothers and sisters, according to the longest study of divorced families ever made. Five years after the marriage broke up, younger children in the study appeared to be more depressed and emotionally scarred than older siblings. But after 10 years had passed, younger children carried fewer memories of stressful events while older children tended to suffer continued vivid, damaging memories. ''The younger ones now seem more settled and are not burdened by memories of conflict,'' said Dr. Judith S. Wallerstein, the principal investigator of the California Children of Divorce Study. The younger children, all of whom lived with their mothers, also showed a surprising urge to contact their natural fathers with intimate details of their lives as they approached adolescence.

TUESDAY, APRIL 10,1984 Companies Lehman Brothers is discussing its sale to Shearson/American Express for $300 million to $400 million, Wall Street executives reported. Lehman is suffering from internal dissent and a need for capital, the sources said. (Page D1.) Marsh & McLennan will take a $60 million after-tax charge against first-quarter earnings to reflect losses on Government bond positions accumulated without authorization by one of its traders. No other details were disclosed. (D1.)

A picture caption in Metropolitan Report yesterday with an article about Great Neck South High School misidentified two students working with computers. They were Jordan Orange and Jessica Spero.