What was going on when I was born?

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1985 International The White House assailed Nicaragua for what it called ''increased aggressive behavior'' against neighboring Honduras and Costa Rica. [Page A1, Column 1.] Possible intervention in Nicaragua by American combat troops at some future date if other policies fail is being openly discussed by officials of the Reagan Administration for the first time, according to nearly 50 military, diplomatic and foreign government experts who were interviewed in Washington, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. [A1:2-3.]

Black producers of hair-care products say these should be robust days. After all, a large percentage of their principal clientele, black consumers, have become more affluent, and are using more hair-care products than ever. Moreover, recent industry figures indicate that blacks individually spend three to four times more on such products than whites - with black spending reaching an estimated total of $2.3 billion last year. Instead, black-owned hair-care companies have found these times riddled with a proliferation of products and less-than-buoyant sales growth. What is more, even though blacks consume an expanding share of the nation's hair-care products, about 35 percent, they are apparently spending more on goods produced by the giants of the cosmetics and personal-care industry, such as Revlon Inc. and the Alberto-Culver Company.

The White House condemned Nicaragua today for what it called ''increased aggressive behavior'' against neighboring Honduras and Costa Rica. ''The U.S. strongly condemns these actions and calls upon the Government of Nicaragua to halt immediately any further military operations against its neighbors,'' said Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman. At another point, Mr. Speakes said, ''We're seriously concerned at signs of increased aggressive behavior by the Government of Nicaragua against its neighbors.''

IT is 9 on a weekday night at Petaluma and the scene is as hot as a mesquite grill. A tall blond woman in a black jump suit holds a clipboard scribbled with names of customers who are waiting three deep at the bar in this animated new Italian restaurant at First Avenue and 73d Street. Three men in their early 30's, wearing dark suits, white shirts loosened at the collar and expressions of subdued awe, scan the premises. ''You have any tables up front?'' one of them asks, craning his neck above the crowd to assay his chances. The hostess points to the bar with a sweeping gesture. ''It looks like 45 minutes to an hour,'' she replies with a well-rehearsed expression of sympathy. The three form a quick huddle and decide to stay. One hour, 10 minutes and three rum and tonics later, they sit down at a table in the elevated front room. Was it worth the wait? ''Sure,'' 29-year-old Marc Breiter said. ''This is only my third time here and I've already met a half-dozen people. Sitting up here I may see one of them come in. If I'm way in the back I might as well be in the pizzeria next to my apartment.''

The Reagan Administration, responding to what it calls unfair trade practices by the European Economic Community, today announced the first sale of commodities to a foreign country under its new export subsidy program. The transaction involves up to one million metric tons of wheat for Algeria, including an unspecified quantity of surplus wheat to be released from Government stocks and given to American exporters at no cost. Officials said the bonus would make it possible for the exporters to meet subsidized European export prices. Agriculture Secretary John R. Block announced the sale just a few hours before leaving on a trip to Western Europe, where America's allies have criticized the export subsidy program, warning of a trade war.

A broadly based majority of Americans believe President Reagan's proposal on tax revision would treat most people fairly, even though two adults in five say they expect to pay higher taxes if the plan is enacted, a New York Times/CBS News Poll shows. The poll, begun less than a day after Mr. Reagan outlined his tax package in a televised speech last Tuesday, found that 60 percent of adult Americans consider the plan fair while 29 believe it is unfair, suggesting that the President has seized the key political ground on the issue. The President's job approval rating also is up slightly, from 56 percent in May to 59 percent in the latest poll, about where it has been since September. The survey found no significant changes in the President's positive job ratings for his handling of the economy and of foreign policy. Administration Support Grows A majority still oppose help for efforts to overthrow the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. But support for that Administration policy is increasing, especially among the growing numbers who know which side the United States backs, according to the poll of 1,509 adults conducted by telephone from May 29 to June 2. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

American military leaders, in a split with Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, have concluded that the United States would probably lose more than it would gain by abandoning the 1979 arms limitation treaty with the Soviet Union, Pentagon officials said today. The military leaders, including at least three of the five members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have determined that the Soviet Union would be able to outbuild the United States in an unrestrained nuclear arms race, while the American military would be held back by budgetary and political restraints, the officials said. One official said the military sentiment was also colored by a worry that an all-out competition in nuclear weaponry would drain money away from tanks for the Army and ships for the Navy and other nonnuclear weapons. Reagan's Decision Due Monday The White House has said that President Reagan will announce his decision Monday on whether to continue abiding by the 1979 treaty, which expires at the end of this year. Although the pact was not ratified, each side has said in the past that it will informally observe its provisions if the other side does.

The Parks Department and promoters of a Formula One Grand Prix auto race reached an agreement yesterday that all but clears the way for the race to be held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in September. The agreement - concluded after more than three years of negotiations, bitter public hearings and an environmental impact study - stipulates that the promoters, the New York Grand Prix, will pay the city $11 million to allow annual races over a 10-year period, according to the Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Henry J. Stern. Of this, $6.5 million would go directly toward improving the park. The remainder would be paid over the 10- year period.

THE show is violent but the children are determined to watch, so what is a parent to do? Turn off the televised beatings, murders, knives, guns, chains, fires, cars hurtling off cliffs and victims being thrown out of airplanes, or simply turn away? Although definitive links are hard to establish, psychologists and other authorities in the field generally accept that watching violence on television can affect the way children view the world and the way they relate to others, that it can anesthetize their responses to cruelty and suffering or make them excessively fearful. Indeed some experts feel the connection is so strong that, as Arnold Kahn, administrative officer for social and ethical responsibility at the American Psychological Association, put it: ''The debate over the effects of violence on television watchers is like the debate over cigarette smoking and cancer.'' The association is the latest organization to join the National Institute of Mental Health, the Surgeon General, the National Parent-Teacher Association and others in warning parents to monitor their children's viewing habits. Recently, the American Psychological Association issued a resolution asking parents to do just that and asking the broadcasting industry to reduce violence in programs.

In a major decision that could open the door for a number of money-center banks to enter the commercial paper market, the Federal Reserve Board decided today that the Bankers Trust Company could continue to sell commercial paper. The Fed's board of governors ruled that the Bankers Trust method of placing commercial paper did not violate Federal prohibitions against the selling, distributing or underwriting of securities by commercial banks, even though the commercial paper was a security under the meaning of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1934. That law was meant to keep commercial banks out of the business of underwriting corporate securities, an activity deemed to have contributed to many bank failures in the 1930's.

In another stunning report of mounting loan losses, the BankAmerica Corporation said yesterday that it expected its operating results to ''be near the break-even point in the second quarter.'' Samuel H. Armacost, president and chief executive, said in a telephone interview that it was too early to determine whether the banking company, the nation's second largest after Citicorp, would report a loss for the quarter. He also said that the company's dividend policy would be reviewed. Analysts were surprised by the news. Most had been predicting that BankAmerica would earn $100 million or more for the quarter, and some said that until recently the bank had been encouraging such projections. BankAmerica stock dropped $2 yesterday, to close at $19.75, as the most active stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

John A. Walker Jr. and his 22-year-old son, accused of smuggling secret Navy documents to the Soviet Union, pleaded not guilty today to charges of espionage. The authorities meanwhile focused on a fifth suspect in what prosecutors are depicting as perhaps the largest American spy ring working for the Soviet Union in 30 years. In the 15th day of expanding allegations of security breaches involving Navy personnel and installations on both coasts, Mr. Walker, a former communications specialist, and his son, Michael, a yeoman on the aircraft carrier Nimitz, were arraigned in Federal District Court in Baltimore. The elder Mr. Walker's brother and a close friend have already been arrested and charged with espionage, and more arrests are expected. Officials said the Federal Bureau of Investigation now believes a fifth suspect, known to the public only as ''F,'' lives on the East Coast, perhaps near Norfolk, Va. Earlier, officials had said that at least three men were under surveillance in California in connection with the case. The law-enforcement authorities have not said whether ''F'' is a man or a woman.