What was going on when I was born?

The Senate Armed Services Committee today rejected a Republican-led proposal to cut military personnel by 175,000 soldiers and civilians, Congressional sources said. The action, in a closed session, came as the committee was completing work on President Reagan's military budget for the next fiscal year. Senate aides who have been present for two days of debate and votes in the committee said it appeared likely the panel would vote Thursday to recommend that the President's military budget be cut by $10 billion. The aides said the committee had drafted such a bill by trimming a variety of programs, without canceling any major weapons systems.

Sales of new domestically made cars rose moderately throughout March, gaining 6.9 percent in the last 10 days of the month from the 1984 period, the major manufacturers said today. ''This was pretty much in line with what we're looking for,'' said Jean- Claude Gruet, a securities analyst who covers the auto industry for Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. ''The 10 days came in a little lower than the numbers we've seen in the last 8 to 10 weeks, but it is still in the expected range.'' In the period, which had 9 selling days this year and 10 last year, the companies sold a total of 301,496 cars, or 33,500 a day. For all of March, sales rose 5.6 percent, to 768,927 units, bringing the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate to 8.4 million.

A new genetically engineered drug is nearly twice as effective as medication now used in halting heart attacks, a major Government-sponsored study shows. The experimental drug dissolves blood clots, which are the major cause of heart attacks, suffered by more than 670,000 Americans a year. If such blood clots are not dissolved within hours, permanent and often fatal damage to the heart muscle results. The damage is called myocardial infarction.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1985 International Israel apparently violated an international agreement on Tuesday when it transferred 1,100 Lebanese detainees from southern Lebanon to Israel, the Reagan Administration said. The State Department said the transfer of the Lebanese ''is prohibited regardless of motive'' under terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which deals with the treatment of prisoners. (Page A1, Column 6.) The State and Defense Departments are arguing about the circumstances surrounding the slaying of an Army major in East Germany by a Soviet soldier. Officials from both departments said the dispute had revived some fundamental disagreements between the two agencies over how to deal with the Soviet Union. (A1:5.)

An obituary on March 28 of Frank H. Bartholomew, chairman emeritus of United Press International, incorrectly located his alma mater, Oregon State University. It is in Corvallis, not Portland.

Because of a mechanical error, a section of the Corporate Earnings table in Business Day was omitted from some copies yesterday. The affected entries appear in today's listing, which begins on page D20.

To some people, Murray R. Gold is a fighter who made it from Auschwitz to New York University to a job as a stockbroker in New York. To the State of Connecticut, Mr. Gold is a psychotic murderer who stabbed to death his former father-in-law and mother-in-law on the night of Sept. 26, 1974 - Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Last month, his hair thinned and whitened from more than a decade of court appearances, prison and now hospitalization in a mental institution, the 51- year-old Mr. Gold appeared in court here for the latest chapter in what officials say is Connecticut's longest criminal case without a resolution. Another Mistrial For 10 years, Mr. Gold has declared his innocence. He has been defended by a succession of lawyers, including William M. Kunstler, Louis Nizer and now John R. Williams. The current prosecutor, John A. Connelly, first studied the case as a law student.

Three young men were killed and two were seriously injured Tuesday night when two motorcycles they were riding collided head on on a dark residential street here. The Suffolk County police said that both motorcyles - which were designed for use on dirt trails - were being operated illegally in the street. Neither was equipped with lights and both appeared to be traveling at high speed. It was the worst motorcycle accident in Suffolk County in recent years, the police said.

''Finally I began to feel it was perfectly clear that I wasn't thinking like a Democrat, I wasn't acting like a Democrat and I didn't feel like a Democrat anymore.'' - Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, on switching to the Republican party. (A29:1.)

The Reagan Administration said today that Israel had apparently violated an international agreement on Tuesday when it transferred 1,100 Lebanese detainees from southern Lebanon to Israel. The State Department said the transfer of the Lebanese from the Ansar detention camp to the territory of the ''occupying power'' - Israel - ''is prohibited regardless of motive'' under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The convention deals with treatment of prisoners and the obligations of occupying powers. In Jerusalem, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the detainees transferred to Israel had been accorded all the privileges due prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, although he said they did not qualify for that status.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1985 Companies Golden Nugget offered to buy 25 percent of Hilton Hotels from the estate of Conrad N. Hilton for $72 a share, or $488 million. If the casino operator succeeds, it would ''consider'' buying the rest for ''similar values.'' On that basis, Hilton would bring close to $2 billion, but it appeared the price could go much higher. (Page D1.) G.E. has discussed an arrangement to buy CBS in a ''friendly'' merger for about $150 a share if the broadcasting company were to get a serious, unfriendly takeover offer, two investment banking sources said. CBS denied the reports. G.E.'s interest reportedly began months ago and was renewed this week. One of the sources said that Shearson Lehman Brothers, reversing itself, agreed to help Ted Turner obtain financing to try to take over CBS. (D1.)

Two separate Wall Street investment banking sources said yesterday that the General Electric Company and CBS Inc. had discussed an arrangement under which G.E. would come in with a ''friendly'' merger offer at about $150 a share for the broadcasting company in the event a serious, unfriendly takeover bid was made by another company for CBS. If G.E. were to acquire all of CBS's 29.7 million outstanding common shares, the price would be about $4.45 billion. CBS's stock closed yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange at 09.625, up $2.875, on volume of 535,600 shares. The General Electric interest in CBS, on which a G.E. spokesman declined to comment, reportedly began several months ago and was renewed, with a firm dollar figure, this week.