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Lt. Col. Oliver North breaks his public silence today, facing congressional questioning that is expected to home in quickly on whether President Reagan knew about the diversion of Iran arms-sale money to Nicaraguan contras.

North will speak publicly for the first time since the affair broke seven months ago, answering questions from chief House committee counsel John Nields, who also plans to introduce more than 200 documents as evidence during his daylong direct examination.

"Oliver North is the man who made things happen from Iran to Central America," Sen. Paul Trible, R-Va., who is to be one of the principal questioners at the hearing, said Monday. "He knows what happened. And, hopefully, he will tell us the full story."

"He's got a great deal to tell us," added Rep. Dick Cheney, R- Wyo., another designated questioner. "I think we'll be able to look back when it's all over, and this will probably have been the most significant week" of the hearings.

The session, beginning the eighth week of Iran-contra hearings, will be carried live on the major television networks.

Rather than questioning North chronologically about the Iran arms sales and the contra aid network, Nields plans to focus on specific issues, House committee spokesman Robert Havel said Monday.

Near the top of the list is the one matter seen as potentially the most explosive for Reagan: whether he was aware that money from the sale of weapons to Iran was being shunted to Central America to arm the contras at a time when such aid was barred by Congress.

Reagan has repeatedly said he didn't know about the diversion. But a weekend poll said a majority of Americans don't accept that. The poll in U.S. News & World Report found that 57 percent of Americans believe Reagan's denials are a lie.

However, another of the principal North questioners, Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, said Monday the panels should be careful not to place too much weight on Reagan's knowledge of the diversion.

"I think the White House has, in a skillful political way, narrowed it down to that -- as though if the answer to that is 'no,' that's all there is to it," Mitchell said. "The significant questions are much broader than that, and they go to the rule of law. The executive branch must faithfully execute it, not seek to evade it."

Also high on Nields' list of issues is the November 1985 shipment of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles from Israel to Iran, a shipment carried out with heavy assistance by the Central Intelligence Agency but without written authorization from Reagan, according to earlier testimony. And Nields will question North closely about efforts a year later by top Reagan officials to cover up government knowledge of that operation, Havel said.

Last November, in the days just before the situation became public, Attorney General Edwin Meese was assigned by the president to look into the unraveling affair. Some investigators believe the move was primarily a political damage control effort.

It was during those crucial days that Meese failed to secure documents that North later shredded, tipped North to what his probe had found and decided against bringing in experienced criminal investigators, prior testimony has indicated.

In addition to the central factual questions in the affair, the question of North's own credibility is on the line as he testifies under a grant of limited immunity that prevents his answers from being used against him in any criminal case.

The U.S. News poll found that 59 percent of Americans don't believe North will tell the complete truth to the committees. Also, 48 percent said they believe North is being "set up" to be the fall guy to protect administration superiors, the magazine reported.

The poll found that 55 percent of Americans believe the hearings so far have brought out evidence of "serious wrongdoings" on the part of administration officials. Thirty-three percent believe the events involve "minor misdeeds."

The sampling, conducted June 30 and July 1, included 1,018 people, with a statistical margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Direct questioning of North by Nields is expected to last all day today and perhaps extend into Wednesday when House minority counsel George Van Cleve and Senate chief counsel Arthur L. Liman will pick up the thread.

Members of the investigating panels probably will begin their questions on Thursday, with two hours each allocated to the House and Senate principal questioners. Taking the first turns for the Senate panel will be Mitchell and Trible. The main House questioners will be Reps. Ed Jenkins, D-Ga., and Cheney.

Under an arrangement with North's defense lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, most of the testimony will be given for the first time. A brief private deposition with North last week was limited to questions about his contacts with Reagan and Reagan's possible knowledge of the diversion of funds.