What was going on when I was born?

Oil prices and the stock prices of major oil companies fell moderately yesterday in response to news that Saudi Arabia, the premier oil power, had cut its prices and would raise production. Analysts said several factors prevented a larger downward reaction: Trading was light because of the Jewish New Year; prices had already declined last week on rumors of the impending Saudi move, and oil inventories are much lower than normal for this time of year, suggesting that a price run-up is in store when the cold weather hits. But the analysts predicted that even if oil prices recover somewhat this winter, they will probably drop next spring to perhaps $5 below the current official price of $28 for Arab Light. If a price war occurs, it could push oil prices down to perhaps $18 a barrel, some experts said, echoing statements by the Saudi oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, during the weekend.

Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan's national security adviser, said today that the Administration had established policy positions in ''every area'' of disagreement with the Soviet Union to use in talks at the November summit meeting. Mr. McFarlane, disclosing details of the Administration's aims going into the talks, said positions had been developed on the four major areas expected to dominate the discussions in Geneva on Nov. 19-20. He said these areas were arms control, regional issues, matters between the two countries and human rights. No 'Illusions' About Ties Mr. McFarlane's comments came in a speech here to the Air Force Association that was devoted largely to relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The United States has become a debtor nation for the first time since World War I, owing foreigners more than they owe it, a Commerce Department report indicated today. The Commerce Department report on the country's international accounts also disclosed the largest quarterly deficit in the nation's merchandise trade on record, for the period from April through June, and the second-worst quarterly deficit ever in the broader measure of international transactions known as the current account, which includes trade. Analysts said the figures were certain to heighten pressure in Congress to enact protectionist legislation to slow the inflow of imported goods. President Reagan has in recent days repeatedly reaffirmed his longstanding commitment to free trade and has threatened to veto protectionist bills. $39.5 Billion Rise in First Half The report showed that foreign investors - governments, industries and individuals - increased their assets in the United States by $39.5 billion in this year's first half and by $25.8 billion in the second quarter alone.

GALLSTONES - a vexing health problem affecting millions of Americans and normally requiring major surgery or long-term treatment with pills - can often be quickly dissolved in the body with a new method devised by doctors in Minnesota. It takes less than three days to turn even large gallstones into a fluid with the experimental technique. Dissolution results from the action of a liquid called methyl tert-butyl ether, MTBE, a chemical cousin of the diethyl ether that has been used in surgery as a general anesthetic for more than a century. The ether preparation is injected through a thin tube that pierces the skin and is guided through the liver to enter the gallbladder. The stones that form there afflict up to 20 million Americans and come in a variety of sizes, shapes and chemical compositions. The ether solution can dissolve cholesterol gallstones, the most common type.

New York's two Senators said today that at Governor Cuomo's request they would conduct an immediate assessment of whether there is still hope of winning Congressional support for Westway. Supporters of the $2.3 billion highway and development project are under intense pressure because, under current law, they have until Sept. 30 to decide whether to continue efforts to build the stalled project or trade in $1.7 billion in Federal funds for use on a smaller highway and mass-transit improvements. The review, which will include consultation with other Senators and members of the House of Representatives, will gauge Congressional support for bills to extend the trade-in deadline in light of two serious setbacks last week.

International Oil prices slid in response to reports that Saudi Arabia had cut prices and would raise output. Shares of oil companies also fell. Analysts said the reaction was muted, however. For one thing, inventories are much lower than average, suggesting that a price run-up is likely when the cold weather hits. But prices are still expected to drop next spring to perhaps $5 below the $28 official price of Arab Light. A price war could cause a sharper drop. [Page D1.] A U.N. panel began four days of hearings on apartheid and whether multinational corporations help sustain the system. The U.N. invited 1,068 companies but all declined to attend. [A3.]

Four years ago, when he was running for governor of New Jersey, Thomas H. Kean promised to hold the line on income and sales taxes. After he was elected by the narrowest of margins, the recession deepened, the state's deficit grew to more than $500 million, and he signed legislation increasing both tax rates. Despite those tax increases, the latest public opinion polls show that Governor Kean is the most popular politician in his state as he begins his fall campaign for re-election. The reasons for this popularity are varied. Some politicians point out that the same tax increases that might have hurt another politician combined with a booming state economy in the last few years to give the state a surplus of about $700 million in revenue.

The struggle for control of Richardson-Vicks Inc. intensified yesterday when Unilever N.V., the giant British-Dutch concern, began a hostile tender offer for all of the stock of the consumer products company at $56 a share in cash. But Unilever said it would pay only $48 a share if it did not get the cooperation of the Richardson-Vicks board in its offer. A buyout would cost Unilever about $1.35 billion at $56 a share or $1.2 billion at $48 a share including fees and expenses, the company said. A week ago, Unilever's original bid of $54 a share, made directly to Richardson-Vicks, was turned down by the board as inadequate and not in the best interest of shareholders. The company, based in Wilton, Conn., then took steps to protect itself, announcing that it would repurchase up to five million, or 22 percent, of its 23 million outstanding shares.

It was a perfectly clear spring morning, Lieut. H., a young Israeli fighter pilot, recalled, and he was flying his A-4 Skyhawk bomber near the Dead Sea when suddenly an unidentified object came straight at him. ''I couldn't tell what it was,'' he said. ''As it got closer, instinctively I ducked. That's all I remember. I woke up on the ground with a parachute around me and my neck broken.'' Maj. O. - last names were withheld by Israeli military censors - filled in what Lieut. H. cannot remember: ''He ran into a bird that was migrating south. It crashed through his front windshield and somehow activated the ejection lever next to the pilot's seat. Fortunately his parachute opened automatically and he woke up on the ground. We sent some of the blood and feathers we found in his cockpit to a police laboratory in Holland, and they told us he was hit by a honey buzzard.'' Since the mid-1970's, migrating buzzards, storks, pelicans and eagles have done more damage to Israeli fighter jets than all the Arab air forces combined. A two-pound stork hits a fighter jet flying at about 500 miles per hour with a force of 20 tons, explained Maj. O., the flight safety specialist in the Israeli Air Force in charge of bird protection. In hundreds of jet-bird collisions each year, Israeli planes sustain millions of dollars of damage in cracked and punctured wings, destroyed engines - and worse.

''Pope John's basic purpose in convening Vatican II was to heal the centuries-old breach between the church and the world.

Top leaders of ''an Asian organized-crime syndicate'' were arrested yesterday in an undercover operation that struck ''a significant blow'' at the group's far-flung criminal activities, according to an announcement yesterday by Federal and police authorities in Manhattan. The international syndicate calls itself United Bamboo, the authorities said. They charged that its activities included major drug dealing, gambling, extortion, bribery, kidnapping and ''murder for hire.'' A total of 13 defendants were named in three criminal complaints filed yesterday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, with 12 of them under arrest in related actions in New York, Texas, California and Nevada. One defendant remained a fugitive. #2 Are Called Top Leaders Beginning in April, the authorities said, United Bamboo was infiltrated by five undercover agents, who worked to get evidence about the group, particularly its leaders, until the arrests.

When President Reagan goes to the United Nations' 40th birthday party next month, he will be offering stately felicitations but also presenting clear evidence of harder times for the world body under the Reagan Administration. The President's anniversary gift will be a level of financial support that Congress has just ordered to be seriously crimped unless the United Nations allows its larger contributors a larger voice in its budget. The President signed the financial restriction last month, even though he expressed doubts about the practicality of forcing the United Nations to adopt weighted voting on budget issues by next year. On a larger policy scale, the stricture clearly reflects the ''measured disappointment'' that Reagan Administration officials have pronounced the international body to be after four decades.