What was going on when I was born?

The stock of Texaco Inc. fell yesterday in response to published remarks by its president that the company could be forced into bankruptcy proceedings if it were required to post a $12 billion bond to appeal a Texas jury's verdict against it in the Pennzoil case. The remarks by Alfred C. DeCrane Jr. and a similar statement issued yesterday at the company's headquarters in White Plains sent the stock down $2.125, to $32.125, Texaco was the volume leader on the New York Stock Exchange with 8.6 million shares changing hands. However, oil industry analysts, while agreeing that Texaco would not be able to meet a $12 billion bond order, viewed the DeCrane statement as part of its overall strategy of overturning the $10.53 billion jury judgment in favor of the Pennzoil Company. ''I think it was done to make everyone aware that a bond could have an extreme impact on Texaco, and to emphasize that the judge can change the jury's award,'' said John A, Martin of the Provident National Bank in Philadelphia.

Factory orders for durable goods tumbled 2.1 percent last month, the biggest decline since July, the Commerce Department said today. The $2.2 billion drop in October marked the third month out of the last four that orders have declined. Orders fell nine-tenths of 1 percent in September and 2.3 percent in July; in August, they recorded an increase of 3.2 percent.

Federal efforts to protect the public from dangerous chemicals and other environmental risks are foundering in a confusing, contradictory, haphazardly administered mire of laws, rules and procedures, according to both proponents and opponents of greater regulation. That view is shared by public health officials and environmentalists, industry spokesmen, students of public policy and Federal regulatory officials interviewed in recent weeks. These people said efforts to define, identify and reduce risks to the public were being hampered by a dearth of scientific data, a lack of resources and the intrusion of political and ideological considerations into the legislative and regulatory processes. How Safe Is Safe? Above all, they said the Federal effort to protect the public from environmental risks had been bogged down by the inability of regulators to answer a central question: How safe is safe? The question of how much money should be spent to protect the public from environmental hazards is as much a philosophical problem as it is an issue of governance, because it entails setting values on human life and health.

The Justice Department today filed a suit seeking to overturn a 1982 redistricting plan that it says deprived Hispanic residents of adequate political representation on the City Council. The suit, which names Mayor Tom Bradley, the City Council and the City Clerk as defendants, charges that the redistricting plan was drawn up to split Hispanic voters to reduce their strength in Council districts. The suit, a civil action, says the plan violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Hispanic people make up more than 27 percent of the city's population, according to the Government's figures, but have no representation on the 15-member City Council.

International A hijacking survivor has been called ''the chief of the hijackers'' of an Egyptair jet by several other survivors, according to a Maltese Government spokesman. He said the accused 20-year-old man was in satisfactory condition, had given his name as Omar Marzouki and claimed to be Tunisian. [Page A1, Column 6.] Egypt accused Libya of responsibility for the hijacking of the Egyptian airliner to Malta. [A10:1-3.]

The Economy Factory orders for durable goods plummeted 2.1 percent in October, the biggest drop since July. But a 26.6 percent plunge in orders for military equipment accounted for the entire decline. Analysts expressed little alarm, saying the volatility in the military category was masking a rather stable economy. [Page D1.] Two business groups took opposing sides on the tax bill. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States asked that President Reagan and Congress scrap any further talk of tax revision. But the Tax Reform Action Coalition, an ad hoc group of industry groups and corporations including G.M. and I.B.M., declared its support. [D1.] Experts say Dan Rostenkowski may have gone further than past chairmen of the Ways and Means Committee in doling out special favors to get the bill written. [A1.]

The Democratic and Republican national chairmen signed an agreement today to make the two political parties the principal sponsors of Presidential debates in the general election campaign. The announcement drew immediate criticism from the League of Women Voters, which has sponsored the debates since 1976. Dorothy S. Ridings, president of the league, issued a statement questioning whether third-party and independent candidates for President or Vice President could get ''a fair shake'' under such an arrangement. Paul G. Kirk Jr., chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., chairman of the Republican National Committee, signed the agreement at a news conference where a bipartisan commission proposed changes in the Presidential campaign process.

The Warner-Lambert Company yesterday announced a $550 million charge against fourth-quarter earnings as part of a substantial reorganization that will take the company out of the hospital supply business. The move underscored the squeeze on the supply industry because of efforts to contain hospital costs. ''It was a big price to pay,'' said Neil Sweig, an analyst with Prudential-Bache Securities Inc., ''but the market tends to like these bite-the-bullet situations. Management is admitting mistakes and saying it wants another chance.'' Warner-Lambert's stock moved up $2 yesterday, to $42 a share, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

From the east side to the west side of Yonkers, in churches and synagogues, schools and on the streets, residents were talking this week about the landmark housing and school desegregation case that they commonly call ''the suit.'' ''The suit could change things for the better,'' said Charlotte Spivey, a 58-year-old tenant of the Schlobohm housing project in west Yonkers whose six children were educated in Yonkers public schools. Last week, Judge Leonard B. Sand concluded in Federal District Court in Manhattan that Yonkers city and school officials had used race as a factor in determining where to build public housing and in the assignment of students and teachers to certain schools. Judge Sand said Yonkers officials had ''intentionally and illegally'' segregated its schools and its public housing along racial lines.

WALKER BROCK, a blue-eyed blond with an easy grin, celebrated his fifth birthday the other day by having the former star of ''Godspell'' present a two-hour show for him and 20 of his friends. Jeremy Sage, who portrayed Jesus in the musical's Off Broadway production, captivated the youngsters by directing a band of stuffed animals, chasing Maurice the Robot and darting in and out of the first-floor window of the Manhattan brownstone. ''Jeremy is very funny,'' said Walker, who was dressed in gray slacks and a navy blazer with a pink button-down shirt and rep tie. ''He makes the best monster faces.''

As a rule, the legislation on tax revision that the House Ways and Means Committee finished drafting last weekend would prohibit the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance sports stadiums, convention facilities and parking garages. But exceptions would be allowed for stadiums in Cleveland, Miami, Chicago, Memphis and the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey, for a convention center in Miami and for parking garages in Memphis and Charleston, S.C. These and more than two dozen other exceptions to the general provisions are euphemistically called ''transition rules.'' In reality, they are special favors, inserted in the legislation personally on the last day of drafting by the committee chairman, Representative Dan Rostenkowski. Their purpose was to reward legislators who had backed the chairman in the committee or to gain the support of influential lawmakers whose help he will need to guarantee adoption of the measure next month on the House floor. A Small Price to Pay? Altogether, the special tax breaks would cost the Treasury $2 billion to $3 billion a year in lost revenue, more than twice what the Government spends on cancer research.

''Yeah,'' said Charles Richman, picking up the phone at the Fashion Foundation of America. ''This is Fashion. Whaddyawant?'' This is a busy time at the foundation, which has just announced its 44th annual list of the world's best-dressed men, featuring President Reagan, Prince Charles and, inexplicably, the Mayor of Jersey City, who intimated that this is the kind of honor that can ruin a man in Jersey City.