What was going on when I was born?

An American professor who was kidnapped more than two months ago was rescued today by Shiite Moslem militiamen who stormed a West Beirut house in which he was being held. A French construction engineer who was abducted five days after the American and held along with him was also freed by the militiamen, members of the Amal Shiite militia. Both the American, Prof. Frank Regier of the American University here, and the Frenchman, Christian Joubert, appeared dazed and were unshaven, but otherwise seemed physically sound. Kidnappers' Indentities Unknown The identities of the kidnappers, who were being interrogated this evening, were not immediately clear. Security officials close to the investigation said they appeared to be ''Moslem extremists'' who had been holding the two men for still undetermined reasons.

The issue of whether Congress was adequately informed about the covert mining of Nicaraguan harbors has figured centrally in the debate that erupted this month. Following are some questions and answers about the dispute, the mandate and organization of the Senate and House intelligence committees and their relationship in this case and in general with the Central Intelligence Agency. Q. When did Congress first learn about the mining of Nicaraguan harbors, particularly about the direct involvement of the C.I.A.? A. The first public report about the mining was made on Jan. 3, when the Managua radio, the Nicaraguan Government station, broadcast a report that United States-supported rebels had begun placing mines in Nicaraguan territorial waters under the direct supervision of the C.I.A. On Jan. 8 rebel leaders announced at a news conference in Honduras that they would mine Nicaraguan harbors. These developments received little publicity in the United States, and it is not clear how many members of Congress were aware of them.

''I would ask that they recognize that it was not an easy thing for Barry Goldwater to write that letter and it was not an easy thing for me to resign the vice chairmanship.

-SALEM, N.C., April 15 - An all-white jury acquitted six Ku Klux Klansmen and three American Nazi Party members today of civil rights violations in the killing of five members of the Communist Workers Party and the wounding of seven others in 1979. Five of the defendants were among six men acquitted in 1980 of murder and rioting charges stemming from the deaths at a ''Death to the Klan'' rally in Greensboro. ''Praise the Lord,'' said Jack W. Fowler Jr., an ex-Nazi Party member from Winston-Salem who hugged his wife after the verdict was announced in Federal court about 5:10 P.M. Other defendants wept, and one, Roland Wayne Wood, also an ex-party member, knelt on the courtroom carpet. Dale Sampson, 35 years old, the widow of William Sampson, who was shot to death at the Nov. 3, 1979, rally, also wept. ''This is a real go-ahead for the Klan and Nazis to kill people,'' she said.

MICHAEL BLUMSTEIN The Charter Company, reporting new financial difficulties, said last night that it was suffering a ''severe loss of trade credit'' in its oil operation and would put its insurance business up for sale. ''If the company is unsuccessful in replacing the lost trade credit, it could have a serious impact on its oil operations,'' said a statement from Charter, which is based in Jacksonville, Fla. A company spokesman said she could not elaborate. Charter said its policyholders would be unaffected by a sale of the insurance business, which last year accounted for 70.1 percent of the company's operating profits of $164.9 million.

Ben Crenshaw, one of the most popular figures in golf, finally realized a true measure of the glory that had long been predicted for him as he won the 48th Masters Tournament today by two shots over Tom Watson. Known as one of the outstanding putters in the game he loves so much, Crenshaw got a hot putter going at the turn of the Augusta National Golf Club course. He sank a slippery 10- foot, downhill birdie putt at No. 9 to regain the lead he held after the first round. Then he stroked in a 60-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. From there, he made it easily with a final round of 4-under-par 68 for a 72-hole total of 11-under 277. For the 32-year-old Texan who was expected to be a successor to Jack Nicklaus as the dominant player when he first came out on the PGA Tour in 1973, it was his first triumph in a major tournament after many near misses.

Caroline Beck stopped to read a poem on the wall of the Jewish Museum, written 40 years ago and called ''Sweet Sixteen'' by another young girl, who lived in a very different world. In Maria Theresa's fortress Behind the Wall I am Sixteen The age of the first ball I dream I wear an organdy dress A poppy in my hair and float on parquet the floor Rescue my heart from the needling thrill Behind the Wall All I am A captive - the Number 434. It was signed Vera Werslitz. ''Her dreams were good,'' said Miss Beck, an 11-year-old from Philadelphia who understands dreams of dresses and parties but does not yet understand the nightmare of the Holocaust. ''It's sad to see kids my age in a concentration camp.''

The Port Authority plans to go forward with a sweeping revitalization of a stretch of Hudson River waterfront in Hoboken, N.J., even though the New York State Legislature has yet to approve a measure authorizing the project and a similar one in Queens, according to officials in the agency and in New Jersey. For more than a year, legislation sought by the Port Authority to permit it to undertake the projects has been bogged down in Albany. Officials in New Jersey, where the legislation is in place, have expressed increasing frustration over these delays and now say existing statutes permit them to proceed without the new legislation. ''We can go ahead and are going ahead,'' said W. Cary Edwards, secretary to Governor Kean. ''The reality is that the Hoboken project can go ahead without legislative approval.''

MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1984 Companies Charter said it faced a ''severe loss of trade credit'' in its oil operation and would put its insurance business up for sale. The announcement came two weeks after the company said it would report a substantial deficit for the first quarter. (Page D1.)

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced that he was resigning as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The New York Democrat said he was protesting the failure of the Central Intelligence Agency to inform the committee ''properly'' about the scope of United States involvement in the mining of Nicaraguan harbors. (Page A1, Column 6.) An American was rescued from kidnappers in Lebanon by Shiite Moslem militiamen who raided a West Beirut house in which he was being held after he was seized by unidentified gunmen two months ago. The Moslems also rescued a French construction engineer who had been abducted five days after the American, Frank Regier, an engineering professor. Two Americans are still missing in Beirut. They are the United States Embassy political officer, William Buckley, who was kidnapped Mar. 16, and Jeremy Levin, the bureau chief of the Cable News Network, who disappeared Mar. 7. (A1:5.)

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced today that he was resigning as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The New York Democrat said he was protesting what he said was the failure of the Central Intelligence Agency to inform the committee ''properly'' about the scope of United States involvement in the mining of Nicaraguan harbors. The C.I.A., which is charged by law with keeping the House and Senate intelligence committees ''fully informed'' of its current and future activities, has insisted that it briefed the committees about the mining. The agency said it told the House committee on Jan. 31, and the Senate group on March 8 and again on March 13. In addition, it said the Senate committee staff received an extensive briefing on April 2.

Hospital mergers and acquisitions are rapidly increasing the costs of Medicare and Medicaid without providing additional health care to the elderly and poor people covered by the two programs, according to Federal officials. Under both programs, the Government pays hospitals a special allowance for depreciation and interest expenses. These costs rise, often dramatically, when hospitals change hands, because the new owners usually borrow money to finance the purchase, and the process of depreciation starts again from a much higher level reflecting the purchase price. Medicare officials said the Government would pay $2.7 billion this year to hospitals for depreciation and interest, plus $200 million in special allowances for profits, a ''return on equity.''