What was going on when I was born?

Julio Maria Sanguinetti took office as the elected President of Uruguay today, restoring this country's long democratic tradition after 12 years of military rule. The inauguration also underscored the trend toward democracy throughout Latin America: Uruguay became the eighth country in the region to pass from military to civilian government since 1979. Mr. Sanguinetti, a 49-year-old lawyer with centrist political views, immediately pledged that government by fiat ''will not happen again because all Uruguayans will turn democracy into our great national cause.'' Foreign Dignitaries Present The new President was sworn in before Congress and an array of foreign dignitaries, including the Presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua and the Prime Ministers of Spain and Italy.

The Government index designed to predict the course of the economy jumped 1.7 percent in January, the biggest increase in 19 months, the Commerce Department reported today. Economists said the advance, which was somewhat larger than expected, indicated the economy was moving smartly ahead - probably at a pace exceeding the 4.2 percent average growth for the third year of postwar recoveries. In 1984, the economy grew by 6.9 percent after allowing for inflation. ''It's one more sign that 1985 will be a good year,'' Marc M. Goloven, an economist for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, said of the latest report. ''Last fall's fears of a growth recession have been virtually buried.''

The Bank of America sued six employees today, charging them with ''gross negligence'' for their involvement in a mortgage-backed securities scandal that has led to huge losses and embarrassment for the bank. Five of the six employees have been dismissed and the sixth was demoted, the bank said. All six were based in the Los Angeles area. The suit filed in state court provides the bank's answer to the question of whether its employees defrauded it or were merely sloppy. ''We simply do not have any basis to believe or suspect fraud or criminal acts by any of our employees,'' said Winslow Christian, director of litigation for the bank.

''They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance.'' - President Reagan, speaking about Nicaraguan rebels. (1:2.)

Building fires in New York hit a 20-year low last year, according to statistics released by the Fire Department. Fires in buildings fell to 34,626 in 1984 - a 39 percent drop from their high of 56,810 in 1976, and the lowest level since 32,863 in 1964. Arson in buildings fell to 5,157 in 1984 - a 62 percent drop from a high in 1976 of 13,752, and the lowest level since 5,097 in 1967.

The Pentagon today accepted as valid a theory that nuclear war could generate enough smoke and dust to blot out the sun and cause severe climatic cooling. The 17-page report was the military's first assessment of the conclusions, advanced by scientists in 1983, that detonation of nuclear bombs could cause a devastating ''nuclear winter'' around the planet, dropping temperatures as much as 75 degrees. ''Even with widely ranging and unpredictable weather, the destructiveness for human survival of the less severe climatic effects might be of a scale similar to the other horrors associated with nuclear war,'' said the report, ''The Potential Effects of Nuclear War on the Climate.'' Evaluation Ordered by Congress As part of the military programs bill for this fiscal year, Congress ordered Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger to submit by today a detailed review and evaluation of the nuclear winter theory, including discussion of its strategic policy implications. The report was delivered to Congressional offices this evening.

President Reagan said today that the rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government were the ''moral equal of our Founding Fathers.'' In a speech to the annual conference of the Conservative Political Action Conference here, he renewed his call for Congressional approval of $14 million in aid for the rebels. Mr. Reagan also strongly appealed for support of the proposed research program on a space-based defense system against nuclear weapons and said conservative ideology was now the mainstream of American public thought. Speaking about Nicaragua, Mr. Reagan called the rebel forces ''our brothers'' and ''freedom fighters.''

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1985 International Uruguay's democracy was restored with the inauguration of Julio Maria Sanguinetti as President. His election ended 12 years of military rule. The inauguration also underscored the trend toward democracy throughout Latin America. Uruguay is the eighth country in the region to pass from military to civilian government since 1979. (Page 1, Column 1.)

President Reagan, on the unanimous advice of his Cabinet, cleared the way today for Japan to ship more cars to the United States. The move came after nearly four years of export curbs designed to protect the American auto industry. The President, citing the ''wisdom of maintaining free and fair trade for the benefit of the world's consumers,'' said that he had decided not to ask Tokyo to extend the export quotas, which expire on March 31. In a statement released by the White House, Mr. Reagan urged Japan to reciprocate by opening its markets to American goods and pledged to ''continue to actively support further liberalization of the global trading system.''

It is called the Road of Hope. But just as the bulldozers return daily to clear the 700-mile road of the advancing Saharan sands, hope in this nation often seems futile. Drought has parched and ravaged Mauritania for 15 years now. As the northernmost country in the drought- stricken belt between the desert and the African jungles, this country, about the size of France and Spain combined, is the front line, but it has now been almost totally taken over by the dunes marching southward. Even if rain should return tomorrow, Mauritania's 1.7 million people will be reliant on food aid until well into the next century, and the aid, according to relief officials, will still be cheaper than fighting the desert.

At precisely 10 P.M. Thursday, a green van pulled up on Vanderbilt Avenue next to Grand Central Terminal. Four people got out, opened the back doors and began to unload. Suddenly, as if someone had blown a whistle, shadowy figures began to emerge from the terminal. Within moments there were more than 100 of them - young men in windbreakers, grizzled old men in wool caps, old women carrying shopping bags, all lining up in silence.

One of the four young men shot by Bernhard H. Goetz is willing to testify against Mr. Goetz, even without immunity from prosecution, if the state reopens its case before a new grand jury, the youth's lawyer said yesterday. ''I want his story out, and I think his testimony comes under the heading of new information,'' said the lawyer, Howard R. Meyer, who represents 19- year-old Troy Canty of the Bronx. ''Justice should be done in this case. A grand jury should hear someone from the other side.'' Mr. Canty, who has recovered from his gunshot wound, was the first person to approach Mr. Goetz on a subway train last Dec. 22, first ''asking how he was doing'' and then asking him for $5, according to a report by the police in New Hampshire.