What was going on when I was born?

When the Pentagon halted payments to the Hughes Aircraft Company on several of its faltering missile and radar programs last summer, Hughes suffered more than a jolt to its reputation as a top-notch military supplier. The financial impact was jarring, too. It meant that Hughes Aircraft's sales for 1984 were flat. Instead of achieving the 20 percent sales gain that many analysts were expecting, the huge aerospace company failed to improve on 1983's $4.9 billion, according to figures obtained from the company last Friday. Moreover, its earnings were pared ''a lot,'' Donald H. White, president of Hughes, said in an interview, although he declined to be specific. Costs piled up during the six months it took to put missile and radar production back on track.

EFFORTS by states to equalize the financial resources of school districts, a major goal of education reformers in the 1970's, have not significantly reduced the gap between the richest and poorest districts, according to school finance experts. In some states, the experts say, the disparities of wealth and spending have increased. Efforts to equalize spending have fallen short, they say, partly because poorer districts have not been able to muster the political power necessary to channel the bulk of increased state aid their way and partly because an emphasis on equalizing finances has shifted to an emphasis on improving educational standards. Some experts also said they feared that future attempts to improve financial equity could be undercut by efforts to achieve educational excellence that did not give poor districts the extra resources they would need. Losing Ground Since 1970's ''I don't see the reforms of the 1970's holding up,'' said G. Alan Hickrod, president of the American Education Finance Association, which is made up of school financial officers, academics and educational consultants. ''We've lost almost all the ground we had gained.''

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1985 International Argentina's Economics Minister and central bank head quit unexpectedly. The two men, Bernardo Grinspun and Enrique Garcia Vazquez were chiefly responsible for fashioning Argentina's debt pact with the I.M.F. No reason for the resignations was given, but analysts in the United States noted that the economics programs were not being carried out effectively. (Page A1.)

For the last year and a half, New York City has offered 50,000 landlords bonuses of several thousand dollars for every additional apartment they rent to a homeless family. The city, through the offer, had hoped to reduce the money it spends to house homeless families in hotels. But so far the monetary bait has netted only about 200 apartments. The landlords, citing soaring operating costs, have told the city they no longer want to accept families they cannot count on to pay their rent. As the acknowledged failure of the bonus plan suggests, the city's housing stock no longer seems to make room for many of its poorest people. And behind the crisis of homeless families there is a deeper and more tangled crisis in housing.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1985 International South African demonstrators fought the police in running battles in a packed squatter camp outside Cape Town. At least five people were reported killed and 60 injured. Officials said the protest was generated by a fear among the 100,000 residents that they were to be forcibly removed to a newly created black township several miles away. (Page A1, Column 1.) Shiite Moslem fundamentalists drove into Sidon, Lebanon, to celebrate the departure of Israeli forces from the port city. The thousands of armed demonstrators called for an Islamic republic in Lebanon. (A1:2.)

At least five people were reported killed today and 60 injured as the police fought running battles with thousands of demonstrators in a packed squatter camp outside Cape Town. Witnesses said demonstrators at the camp, called Crossroads, set up barricades of blazing automobile tires after the police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and birdshot. The cause of the unrest, South African officials said, was a fear among the 100,000 residents of the settlement that they were to be forcibly removed to a newly created black township, Khayelitsha, situated in sand dunes several miles away. Gerrit Viljoen, the Cabinet minister responsible for the fortunes of many black people, denied that such a move was imminent.

I figured it was the best I could get,'' Gen. William C. Westmoreland said yesterday in a private assessment that contrasted with his public proclamation of victory in the settlement of his libel suit against CBS. ''It was in essence an apology. One does not have to use the word. One apologizes in other ways.'' ''If CBS had apologized in the first place,'' General Westmoreland said, ''none of this would have happened.''

Reports on the progress of the third artificial heart recipient, Murray P. Haydon, were encouraging today, but the optimism was dampened by an unusually gloomy assessment of the progress of William J. Schroeder, the second recipient of an artificial heart. A hospital spokesman suggested that Mr. Schroeder, who is suffering from a fever of undetermined cause, might never be well enough to leave the hospital. On the other hand, said the spokesman, Dr. Allan M. Lansing, ''Mr. Haydon's conditon is so good it is frightening.'' He said Mr. Haydon, whom he described as ''very alert'' and in excellent spirits, gave a thumbs-up sign to the nurses and doctors at Humana Hospital Audubon today.

A Congressional subcommittee announced yesterday that it would open hearings next week on the impact of corporate takeovers on the economy and shareholders, focusing on the current battle for the Phillips Petroleum Company. Representative Timothy E. Wirth, Democrat of Colorado, said the hearings would start Feb. 27, and that among the first witnesses would be T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who in the past two years has started some of the most heavily fought takeover battles in the oil industry, including the fight for control of Phillips. Also scheduled to testify before the subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance are other prominent figures in recent takeover battles, including William C. Douce, the embattled chairman of Phillips; Frederick H. Joseph, managing director of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., and Ivan F. Boesky, the arbitrager. The subcommittee is a unit of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In most video cassette outlets, it costs only $24.95 to buy ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and only $29.95 for ''Purple Rain,'' but a lot more for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' or for ''Tootsie.'' Just pennies less than $80, to be exact. That remarkable price gap is not testament to the films' relative popularity. To the contrary, all four have been best sellers. Rather, the big difference reflects a fundamental divergence of views on pricing and marketing among the companies that produce video cassettes. The basic question is whether lower prices can lure consumers into buying video cassettes, rather than renting them, as is overwhelmingly the practice now.

DESPITE the announcement by Federal officials last week that the long-awaited AIDS blood test would be delayed at least until the end of next month, there still is a palpable sense of relief among many doctors and the public that a reliable test will soon be available. Implicit in the optimism about the prospects of the new test is this fact: Blood has become a cornerstone of modern medicine, more significant to treatment than many ''miracle'' drugs. In the United States, doctors prescribe some 12 million transfusions for about 3.5 million patients each year. The new test, though not perfect, is expected to detect almost all AIDS-contaminated blood before it gets into the blood-supply system. Thus the test is expected to restore confidence in the integrity of the nation's blood supply, whose uses are now more varied and essential than physicians could have imagined only a decade or so ago. In recent years blood products have been used to significantly increase the success of organ transplantation, to improve the care of newborns as well as of older people, to make possible the development of more effective cancer chemotherapy and to protect against several infections.

Argentina announced last night that Bernardo Grinspun, Economics Minister, and Enrique Garcia Vazquez, president of the central bank, had resigned, in a surprise move. Mr. Grinspun and Mr. Garcia Vazquez were responsible during the past year for fashioning an agreement for a $1.42 billion standby loan from the International Monetary Fund and winning $4.2 billion in new funds from Argentina's 320 creditor banks. Argentina has the third-largest debt in the developing world - an estimated $45 billion - after Brazil and Mexico, with almost $100 billion each. Positions Filled Immediately The announcement last night was made by Jose Ignacio Lopez, a spokesman for Argentina's President, Raul Alfonsin. Mr. Lopez said that the resignations had been accepted but he offered no elaboration. Both officials had taken office in December 1983, when the Alfonsin Government took charge, ending eight years of military rule.