What was going on when I was born?

A national conference on the sexual abuse of children opened this morning with a startling disclosure by a United States Senator, Paula Hawkins. She told a crowded hearing that she had been abused when she was a child by a ''neighbor, a man around the corner.'' Senator Hawkins, who is 57 years old, said after the morning session in the Sheraton National Hotel here that except for her mother, ''I have never told anyone till now, not even my husband.'' Her comments came during a hearing by the Senate Chidren's Caucus, the first program on the agenda of the Third National Conference on Sexual Victimization of Children. It is being conducted by the division of child protection of the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington.

Compagnie Financi ere de Paribas, the big French bank, may take complete control of A. G. Becker Paribas Inc. by purchasing the employee- owned shares of the Wall Street investment firm, Becker officials said yesterday. Paribas, which was the largest private bank in France before it was nationalized by the Socialist Government, already owns just over half of Becker; employees own the rest. If the Paribas purchase is made, it would culminate a string of moves that has given Becker's French partner increasing control of the 91-year- old American firm, which has recently suffered from uneven profits and several personnel upheavals. ''In the long run, having Paribas own all of Becker should eliminate some of the turmoil, maybe not immediately, but over a period of time,'' said Perrin H. Long Jr., an industry analyst with Lipper Analytical Services Inc. Increase of Capital Funds In a letter distributed yesterday to the firm's shareholders, Herve M. Pinet, chairman of Becker's board, said there had been ''discussions with Paribas to further enhance the capital strength of the firm.''

President Reagan sent Congress four bills today intended to help detect and prosecute people involved in international terrorism. The package includes prison terms of up to 10 years and large fines and forfeitures for people who provide training, ''support services'' and similar assistance to nations or groups found by the Secretary of State to be involved in terrorism. 'Essential We Act Immediately' President Reagan, in a written statement released by the White House today while he was in China, said, ''It is essential that we act immediately to cope with this menace and to increase cooperation with other governments in dealing with this growing threat to our way of life.'' But although Mr. Reagan said the proposed legislation ''is an important step in our war against terrorism,'' not everyone agreed.

Kathy Boudin, in a dramatic reversal, pleaded guilty today to murder and robbery charges in the 1981 Brink's holdup in which a guard and two police officers were slain. Miss Boudin, speaking in a low, firm voice, told of her role in the Rockland County robbery and killings and of her remorse over the consequences. ''I feel terrible about the lives that were lost,'' she told Judge David S. Ritter. ''I have led a life of commitment to political principles, and I think I can be true to those principles without engaging in violent acts.'' 20 Years to Life Judge Ritter said he would sentence the 40-year-old Miss Boudin next Thursday to 20 years to life in prison. Since Miss Boudin has already spent three years in prison, she will be eligible for parole in 2001.

An article in Metropolitan Report on April 13 about a new center for advanced studies in journalism at Columbia University incorrectly described plans for its administration. The Gannett Foundation will establish and operate the center, at a cost of $15 million over five years.

The Ford Motor Company reported today that it earned $897.2 million, or $4.90 a share, in the first quarter of 1984, a record for the company and more than four times the $211.2 million, or $1.17 a share, in the first quarter of 1983. With the Chrysler Corporation already reporting a profit of $701 million and the General Motors Corporation expected to report Friday that it had earnings approaching $1.5 billion, the quarter should be a record for the industry as a whole, exceeding the combined $2.43 billion earned in the fourth quarter of 1983. Analysts attributed the rapid recovery of Ford and the industry - which had a combined loss of $187 million as recently as the fourth quarter of 1982 - to increased sales and a shift in consumer preference to larger, more expensive models.

At least 11 poor areas of New York City will no longer get federally sponsored physicians because the Reagan Administration has decided to shift such doctors from urban to rural areas, Federal and state health officials said yesterday. Physicians already serving poor areas of the city will not be transferred, but no more will be sent to the 11 neighborhoods that have been dropped from the Federal Government's list of medically underserved areas. There are 140 such doctors in New York City, serving two to four years in the National Health Service Corps program in return for scholarship aid they got from the Government. The new policy, Federal health officials said, will ultimately reduce that number by more than 20 percent as doctors who have served their obligation are not replaced.

Friday A CENTURY IN BROOKLYN Brooklyn as a place to play is the theme of ''Fun and Fantasy,'' an exhibition focusing on the borough's amusement parks and leisure areas in the 100 years since the installation of the country's first roller coaster at Coney Island. The show, free at the Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn, Brooklyn College, includes works by such artists as Reginald Marsh, Joseph Stella and Milton Avery, as well as carousel animals, sculptures, posters, postcards, stereopticon views and other memorabilia. The museum is in Boylan Hall, Bedford Avenue and Avenue H. Information: 780-5152. IRVING CAESAR NIGHT He wrote the words to such classics as ''Tea for Two,'' ''Swanee'' and ''Crazy Rhythm,'' collaborated with such composers as George Gershwin and Vincent Youmans, and such performers as Al Jolson, George M. Cohan and Jimmy Durante. He is Irving Caesar and, at the age of 88, he will reminisce about his career and sing some of his songs tonight at 8 at the Milbank Chapel Theater, Columbia's Teachers College, 525 West 120th Street. It's free, but reservations are suggested (280-3668).

Count Basie, the jazz pianist whose spare, economic keyboard style and supple rhythmic drive made his orchestra one of the most influential groups of the Big Band era, died of cancer yesterday morning at Doctors' Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. He was 79 years old and lived in Freeport, the Bahamas. Mr. Basie was, along with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, one of the pre-eminent bandleaders of the Big Band era in the 1930's and 40's. Mr. Basie's band, more than any other, was the epitome of swing, of jazz that moved with a built-in flowing intensity. This stemmed primarily from the presence in the rhythm section, from 1937 to the present, of both Mr. Basie on piano and Freddie Green on guitar. As one critic put it, they ''put wheels on all four bars of the beat,'' creating a smooth rhythmic flow over which Mr. Basie's other instrumentalists rode as though they were on a streamlined cushion. Among his band's best-known numbers were ''One O'Clock Jump,'' ''Jumpin' at the Woodside,'' ''Li'l Darlin' '' and ''April in Paris.''

NEW YORK is a city of readers, a place where people demand more than the best sellers. That is why New York, perhaps more than any other major American city, can support small bookstores that concentrate on only one or two subjects. From mysteries to military affairs, these speciality bookshops cater to people who enjoy hunting down a good book almost as much as they enjoy reading it - customers who love to spend long weekend hours browsing for rareities, remainders and those impoossible to find titles. Some of the city's speicalty bookstores are new, some are musty, and some are out of the way - but not so far from the big general interest bookstores on Fifth Avenue between 48th and 57th Streets. More often than not, a book lover can walk in and talk to a clerk who knows all the tilles in the store, and who knows precisely where each one has been shelved. Unlike some of the larger stores, specialty bookstores tend to order titles that do not sell in huge quantities books that bigger shops, customers snap up every copy.

American-Chinese amity will be stressed today by President Reagan in a speech that aides said was designed to set the tone of his six-day visit to China. Mr. Reagan planned to call for Peking and Washington to set aside their ''fundamental differences'' and join as friends in writing ''a new chapter for peace and progress.'' (Page A1, Column 6.) A last-minute concession by Peking has opened the way for the United States and China to initial an agreement Monday on the peaceful uses of atomic energy, according to commerce officials accompanying President Reagan in Peking. (A4:1-2.)

Mayor Koch yesterday proposed an $18.3 billion operating budget for the coming fiscal year and said, ''It contains the best news of any city budget during this administration.'' What it also contains, for the first time in the Koch administration, are goals aimed at restoring city services to their highest levels in a decade. For example, the Mayor hopes by 1988 to have a uniformed police force of 30,600 officers, one-fifth more than at present and the greatest number since the fiscal crisis of 1975. For the fiscal year that begins July 1, the Mayor proposes to add 1,000 police officers, 300 street cleaners and 269 parks workers, to increase pothole repairs and decrease the size of first- grade classes - and to accomplish all this without raising taxes.