What was going on when I was born?

The Reagan Administration today suspended its efforts to cut off Social Security disability benefits. It ordered that benefits be continued or restored for 40,000 of the people who are challenging their removal from the rolls. Although the action had been expected, it demonstrated an extraordinary reversal of policy by a Government agency that has been conducting what John A. Svahn, the former Commissioner of Social Security, once described as a ''crackdown on ineligibility.'' The review, which started in March 1981, found more than 485,000 recipients ineligible, and 150,000 to 200,000 people ultimately lost benefits, prompting a political, judicial and legislative furor. Under strong pressure, Administration officials began signaling today's action last month.

The Challenger astronauts, diverted by bad weather from landing at their preferred site on Cape Canaveral, Fla., landed safely here today after a mission that deftly opened an era of servicing and repairing satellites as they orbit the earth. A space official called the seven-day flight ''a great mission.'' ''The crew rendezvoused with and captured the Solar Max satellite and they repaired and returned it to orbit,'' said Burton Edelson, head of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Office of Space Sciences. ''It appears to be working well. And that was the purpose of the mission.''

Driven by the uncertainty over the political fate of Hong Kong, an increasing number of businessmen and professionals from the British colony have sunk new roots in New York City in the last two years. China has declared its intention to reclaim sovereignty over Hong Kong when the British lease runs out in 1997, but some believe it will happen earlier and are trying to get out before it does. ''Psychologically, people want to stay in Hong Kong, where the life is good, but politically they want to get out because they feel like they're living on borrowed space,'' Tay Wong, family counselor for the Queens branch of the Chinatown Council, explained the other day. Concern About the Future Mrs. Wong, a 32-year-old teacher, came to New York in May 1982 ''because of the political uncertainties.'' She is one of many Hong Kong Chinese who are concerned about the future of the colony and are moving to Australia, Canada and the United States.

President Reagan invoked emergency authority today to give El Salvador up to $32 million in new military aid after Congress recessed without approving the money, Administration officials said. In a day marked by contradictory reports, the officials said the arrangements, worked out in a series of meetings into the evening, marked an attempt to avoid an all-out confrontation with House Democrats. The Democrats had offered a compromise of their own that the Administration appeared to accept only in part. With Congress gone for 10 days on its Easter recess, and Salvadoran troops reported in need of emergency shipments of ammunition, the issue was: Should the President accept the offer of the House Democrats and use $32 million in funds already approved for other countries, so-called reprogrammed aid, or use his own authority and approve an unspecified amount of aid, known as invoking the ''draw-down authority.''

The House Select Committee on Intelligence was informed about United States involvement in the mining of Nicaraguan ports in late January and it later monitored the operation closely, according to the committee's chairman. The chairman, Representative Edward P. Boland, Democrat of Massachusetts, said during House debate late Thursday that the Central Intelligence Agency informed the panel about the mining on Jan. 31 after some of the explosive devices had been planted at Puerto Sandino on Nicaragua's Pacific coast. A Congressional source familiar with the House Intelligence Committee briefing Jan. 31 said the full extent of C.I.A. involvement in the mining was made clear to members. Although Mr. Boland has been a leading opponent of the C.I.A.'s covert activities in Nicaragua, and his remarks on Thursday were highly critical of the mining, he did not fault the C.I.A. for failing to notify Congress.

The Senate, after four long days of debate, early this morning wearily approved a $47 billion tax increase that is its first step toward a $143 billion deficit reduction package. The bill, approved at 5 A.M., raises liquor taxes, modifies some individual income tax breaks and restricts some business tax breaks. A provision that diminishes the tax-shelter value of real estate investments could raise taxes for individuals and corporations. The bill also includes billions of dollars of miscellaneous, small measures of tax relief, including an expansion for contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts for one-income couples.

The growth of industrial production slowed last month from the robust pace of the start of the year, the Federal Reserve Board reported today. Output rose only four-tenths of 1 percent in March, after increases of 1.4 percent in January and 1 percent in February. Through most of last year, regular monthly increases of 1 percent or more were reported. Together with other recent reports on employment, retail sales and prices, the industrial production figures seem to have persuaded experts that the long-expected slowdown of the economy has finally begun, a turning point that many economists said was necessary to avert the consequences of excessive growth, especially higher inflation and interest rates.

The days when Josephine Baker, the black American entertainer, was the toast of Parisian cafe society seem today like memories from another country. ''There has been a major shift in France concerning the blacks,'' said Philippe Lafouge, the general director of the Paris Bureau of Social Aid. ''When I was young, they were very much accepted here and the Algerians were not. Today the Algerians are more accepted because they have adapted to French life. But in the last 10 years, especially since 1981, the number of blacks has grown, they have not assimilated, and thus they are not as accepted.'' In 1931 the number of black Africans in France totaled 16,401. Today there are officially 138,080, but the total, some officials say, may be closer to 200,000. There are also about 500,000 black French citizens from France's overseas departments in the Caribbean.

Tens of thousands of steelworkers from the eastern province of Lorraine marched through Paris today to protest President Francois Mitterrand's plans to reorganize the state-owned steel industry. Officials said it appeared to be the largest and best organized workers' demonstration against the economic policies of the Socialist Government since the left came to power nearly three years ago. The march was organized by both the Communist and the Socialist unions. The demonstrators, whose numbers were estimated at 30,000 to 50,000, snarled traffic throughout the city.

The Chinese Government today denied reports that Deng Liqun, the head of propaganda work for the Communist Party, had resigned. The denial was issued by a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in response to Western news reports that Mr. Deng lost his job after the failure of a national campaign that he directed last fall against ''spiritual pollution.'' The spokesman's comment was circulated by the official New China News Agency. It noted that Mr. Deng was a member of the Secretariat, which runs the party on a daily basis, and head of the propaganda department.

The Government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl is growing increasingly concerned about the implications of the Reagan Administration's proposals to develop antisatellite weapons and antimissile defenses. Officials here say they fear the proposals could start a new arms race and strategically divide the United States from its European allies. Among the most serious doubts are those voiced by Defense Minister Manfred W"orner, who discussed his skepticism about the Reagan program at a gathering of NATO defense ministers last week. Mr. W"orner has the reputation of being one of the most pro-American Cabinet members and is said to pride himself on his good personal relations with Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger. Negotiations Urged In several interviews after his return from the NATO gathering, Mr. W"orner expressed with a sense of urgency his feeling that the United States and the Soviet Union should open negotiations on limiting antisatellite weapons ''before space becomes the next area of the arms race.'' He said, however, that he felt the United States was justified in conducting research into such weapons in light of the reported Soviet work on an antisatellite weapon. Some experts have said the Soviet version is technologically primitive.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz plans to visit South Korea and Japan on May 1 and 2 to brief the Governments there on President Reagan's trip to China, the White House said today. Mr. Reagan is scheduled to arrive in China on April 26 for a five-day visit.